YuGiOh! The Forbidden Duelists
by casju
Summary: Yugi's grandpa, Solomon Muto, finds 3 cards that could destroy the world and gives them to Yugi, Joey and Kaiba. They have to guard them against an evil person who controls others and tries to get the cards in order to bring chaos and get power. But, for this, the help of some new teenagers is needed. Some original and GX characters,some romance. This is during gx era, more or less
1. Chapter 1

1stpart of the 'Yu-Gi-Oh! – Struggle of the Duel Monsters' series.

I do own Konami, so shoot me for making [Insert broken deck here]

Disclaimer: I don't do disclaimers.

Now, this is important:

The story takes time during Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, but most characters here are going to be from the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series or original characters. I follow the dub version for names and places, as well as the TCG rules for gaming. I won't use super-broken cards like pot of greed and stuff like that, but I can't follow a ban list since it changes too often. Also, I use syncrho monsters. XYZs haven't been invented… yet. You'll see in the story. Keep in mind I started this in 2010, so a lot of cards hadn't yet been made

This story takes place in Domino City, and I've decided to place Domino city in Florida because I really know nothing about Japanese culture, so just think the characters from Yu-Gi-Oh! speak English as their first language. People in this story know Yugi Muto, Jaden Yuki, and all these famous duelists, but they go to a normal school; Duel Academy (located in an island near New York) is now only for those who have graduated (is like a three-year college if you will). I don't know if that's how it is in reality, but that's how it is in my story.

Actually, my story has its own theory of how cards are made in the series, why cards are forbidden/limited, etc. Those theories had been made up by me, and any connection it may have to the actual method that the real Yu-Gi-Oh! Series follow is pure coincidence.

I now need to say that, in duels, I usually put the life points and the number of cards in every person's hand and field at the end of each standby phase or when someone gets his/her life points down, and also at the beginning of each duel. I'll also put it if someone does a really big play that makes their hand size and/or field size go up by a lot (Cough LightSworns Cough) It goes like this:

Yugi:_6500_/_3_/_2_/_2_-Kaiba:_4800_/_1_/_2_/_2_

Where the first number is the life points and the second number is the amount of cards in hand. The third one is the number of spells and traps, while the last number is the number of monsters. If there is a field spell it will be written on the middle of the two players, and will add 1 to the number of spells and traps to the controller of that field spell.

Yugi:_6500_/_3_/_2_/_2_-Mystic Plasma Zone-Kaiba:_4800_/_1_/_2_/_2_

I also put the attack, defense, level, type, and attribute of each monster right when they are summoned, or when one of their stats is changed, like this:

Yugi summoned his ace card, the Dark Magician, and the crowd started cheering his name as his famous monster appeared on the field. (2500/2100/7/Spellcaster/DARK)

What the guys are doing at the end of this chapter may seem kind of trivial, but it will matter in the future. Plus, that way you get to know the characters before the actual plot comes in.

By the way, if you don't like original characters, don't worry, Yugi and company will be here soon, but not in this chapter. Again, this is just to make the plot flow. This ark, the Forbidden Duelists, has original characters as main characters though. The next one will feature more Yugi and company.

Oh, and about the cards, you can go to wiki/Main_Page and there you can check out the monsters people summon and stuff. Again, I use TCG and OCG cards, but I apply TCG ruling. If TCG ruling isn't available for an OCG card, then I'll apply the OCG ruling. For those of you who don't know what TCG and OCG are, TCG is the Yu-Gi-Oh! game in Europe, America, and Australia (TCG = Trading Card Game) while OCG is the Yu-Gi-Oh! game in Japan (OCG = Original Card Game)

First Part: 'The Forbidden Duelists': Done

Second part: 'The Ultimate Championship': In progress

Third part: 'The Rise of Chaos': Not yet started.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story, and feel free to point out any grammar mistakes or anything, and be as mean as you can when it come to correcting errors. If you don't like the story, please tell me why, I won't eat you. XD

And, now that I'm done with this introduction, on with the story!

Yu-Gi-Oh!

_The Forbidden Duelists_

Chapter 1 – The Cursed Cards

The Eiffel Tower. Of all places you could go in Paris, this one was definitely the most visited one. Usually, tourists would go and admire its architectural design, but, this time, the visitors weren't just simple foreigners. At this moment there was a hole right next to one of the legs of the mighty construction, in which many archeologists had started an expedition. While many of them were outside, making sure nobody entered, having a cup of coffee, or simply resting, there were two archeologists inside of the leak. While they were underground, light was lacking. They had to hold flashlights in order to see what they were looking for. Suddenly one of them found a part of the wall that was glowing and pointed it out at the other one with enthusiasm:

''Hey, I think I've found it!'' His voice sounded kind of old for him not to be retired

''Do you mean…'' Asked the other with a younger voice

''Yes, this is an entrance to the world of the Duel Monsters Spirits.'' He sounded astonished, as if he didn't believe what he had just said. All his life looking for it and it finally was right in front of his face.

''Oh, wow! We've finally found it!'' The young one sounded very excited. ''What kind of cards do you think will be there?''

''Well, remember that they are not cards yet. People would need to take the data from them and then transform that data into cards, remember?'' pointed out the older one.

''Oh come on, I'm not in elementary school anymore.'' He whined, ''Plus, that's why we duel archeologists exist. We try to find more data from monsters to make cards out of them. The more abundant the data is, the more copies we can make. Then the designers make the drawing based on the data, and the effect, level, attack, defense, attribute, and type will come from that same data we found. Lucky those who find really good cards.''

''Oh yeah, and those archeologists then become rich.'' He then sighed and whispered with gloom. ''I wish I had been the one that found Chaos Emperor Dragon, Envoy of the End.''

The other one laughed. ''But it also sucks that it was so powerful the government had to ban it before it could cause any more damage. Cards that powerful must be used with caution. Remember that monster cards are made from actual monster spirits, reason why holograms can hurt during duels, and reason why some cards are forbidden, as they can cause too much damage.'' Said the other one sharply.

''Yeah, and magic and traps are made from ancient magical spells, actual traps and items, craters or hues of powerful attacks, and stuff like that. A monster has to be the one that made it, of couse''

''Yeah and… wait, why are we talking about this if we just made what probably is the discovery of the century? We can talk about how cards are made later, because now we have a bigger prize to collect. Think of the cards we can get from the world of Duel Monsters Spirits. We'll be rich.''

''Oh yes, it's going to be awesome, and…'' The older archeologist stopped, looked at the floor, and saw some cards. ''What… what are these?''

''They are cards, but…'' The other archeologist picked one up and looked at it ''Evil Hero Dark Gaia? What is this doing here?''

''You know these cards, Marco?'' The one that had found the cards asked, holding the rest of them.

''Yes, they are the evil heroes.'' Marco explained in a tone that sounded like he was pretty interested. ''The wicked version of the Elemental Heroes. If I recall correct, Jaden Yuki, the infamous duelist, explained that he threw them away after he snapped out of the whole 'Supreme King' thing.''

''Oh, so they must have…''

''Yes, they must have found their way to the dimensional gate, and come over to this world. But why…'' He stopped the phrase and saw one of the cards the older one was holding. ''What the…'' He started looking like he was sick

''Hey, are you ok?.'' The older one warned. ''We should be careful here. The lack of air can cause us to pass out.''

''Ok, sorry…'' Marco responded, recovering his posture. ''But this is incredible. We haven't even started and we already have a fortune in our…''

He stopped as a weird noise, like something was cracking, became audible. Then, rocks started to fall.

''Run!'' The other exclaimed.

Marco didn't have to be told twice. They ran as fast as they could, getting outside really quick. The other archeologists were stunned with the vision. When they both looked back, the entrance to the hole was already inaccessible.

''Darn it…'' The other archeologist muttered.

''Hey, at least we found some cards.'' Marco pointed out. ''We could share them, you know?''

''Ok, but tell nobody.'' The other one warned him. ''Hum, I really like this card, and I could take this one too…'' The older archeologist took three cards and examined them closely. ''In the name of Atem…'' He muttered. ''These cards are…''

''You want them, Solomon?'' asked Marco. ''You can take them if you want, and I'll take the evil heroes. Plus, I almost puked before with just the seeing one of them, so I definitely don't want them in my house.'' He laughed. ''And I bet your grandson Yugi will play awesome games with those cards.''

''Sure…'' Solomon responded slowly, still staring at the cards. ''Just be sure to talk about this with nobody, alright?''

''Ok then, see you later!'' Marco said as he walked away with the precious cards he had just found.

Solomon Muto looked once again at the cards in his hand. _I think my grandson is going to have to do some work again to save the world._He thought with apprehension.

"Infernal Flame Emperor, attack his life points directly!''

A monster made of flames, having a its lower body like a horse, upper body like a human and faced like a lion busted John's life points in fire. (2700/1600/9/Pyro/FIRE)

John:_0000_-Sean:_2300_/_2_/_1_/_1_

"Ugh, you beat me again!'' A kid with dark eyes and a hair even darker said.

"Yeah, Sean is too good!'' exclaimed a cute little girl that seemed to have the same age as the two duelists.

These two kids were both looking at a the boy who had just won, who had a 'chill out' kind of expression and a lazy smile on his face. These features went along perfectly with the soft expression on his bright green eyes. "Nah, you fought a great duel, John!'' He said, and he meant it: His best friend, John, was good, but Sean trusted his cards, specially his Infernal Flame Emperor. John didn't have any special affection for his cards, and, even though he said that didn't have anything to do with the outcome of the duel, Sean knew otherwise.

John then got up and looked at his watch. "Mara, I think it's about time we go home,'' he stated looking at the girl, "Dad is about to come back from that archeology trip to France.''

"Yay!'' Mara sounded happy. "I miss dad!''

John and Mara said good bye to Sean as they walked away from him. Sean looked at his best friend and his sister as they went back to their house. What he didn't know is that the duel he had just won… was the last friendly duel he would have with John. But how could he have known, if he was just a normal 5th grade student at an elementary school located in Domino City?

Days after that, Sean went to John's house to ask him and his sister, Mara, to play some game and then duel him. As John opened the door, Sean knew something was wrong: the usual happy face he had was gone, giving place for a new expression Sean had never seen: His face had darkened, and his eyes seemed colder than usual. Sean could see he was holding a card in his right hand, but he had trouble looking at what kind of card it was. Behind him he could see Mara, who was almost crying right next to what Sean knew was the kitchen's door. Before Sean could wonder what was happening, he heard some yelling behind the door,

"Those cards aren't good, and you know it Marco!'' Shouted a woman's voice from behind the kitchen's door.

"Well, I need John to use them, Cindy!'' Replied Marco.

"I shall not let my son to do so as long as I am in this house!'' She cried

"Fine, then I am out of this house with John!'' Marco exclaimed opening the door, finding his daughter eavesdropping behind it. Without a word, he went straight to where the boy was, and, without even looking at Sean, he took John with him. As he was taken, John extended his arm trying to reach for his sister, crying. But Mara, scared of the card that he was holding in his hand, flinched back. Right then, Sean could see the card John was holding. And the sight of it impacted him. Evil Hero Dark Gaia was definitely going to be one of the cards that would swarm Sean's nightmares from then on

A duel was now going on at the park of Domino City, the same one in which Sean had defeated John not too long ago.

"Evil Hero Dark Gaia, attack his Infernal Flame Emperor with Demonic Earth Strike!''

An evil-looking fiend with an armor made of rocks made rocks fall from the sky as it stroke against the Flaming monster that had just beaten John some days ago. (3600/0/8/Fiend/EARTH)

John:_8000_/_2_/_0_/_1_-Sean:_0000_

"Who's the winner now, Sean?'' John seemed to be enjoying himself as Sean's knees hit the ground because of the defeat of its ace monster. His face was muddy because he had fallen a few times now, but he didn't stop looking at John as he continued to speak. "And to think you used to beat me some days ago… But that's over now. I'm leaving to a better place where my dad says I can develop my talent.''

"John… Please don't… think about me… think about your sister…'' Sean pledged.

John looked at the only spectator of the duel, Mara. He then turned around and walked away. Mara then went running where Sean was lying with her face covered in tears and took him where the swings were.

The afternoon was starting to fade away, and the night was coming as the two kids sat on the swings melancholically. Mara was sobbing, while John held a furious expression his face.

Mara was the first one to break the silence, "Do you think I will ever see my brother again? My dad is going to take him to a special school that emphasizes dueling…''

Sean looked at her with a serious expression, on his face.

"Mara… Your brother betrayed us for that Evil Hero. We don't need him… we're better than that.''

Mara looked at him, and a smile came across her face. "We still have each other, right?''

"Exactly.'' Sean stated. "And we'll be friends forever. And we'll let no evil cards break us appart, ok?''

Mara smiled as they both got up and walked away from the park, with the red sky glowing above them like a huge flame incinerating the clouds.

Two years later, it was John's and Mara's first day in Middle School. They both knew that, even though John was at a different school, when he graduated into High School they'd all have to go to the same one not too far from this one, since it was the only one that was decent enough around. As they walked around, they saw a duel going on, which Sean thought probably was the first duel of the year.

"Battle Ox, attack directly!'' A tall guy with spiky blond hair and green eyes said as a two-legged Ox with an axe slashed an Asian looking guy, who fell to his knees. (1700/1000/4/Beast-warrior/EARTH)

Mark:_5600_/_1_/_1_/_2_-Fujimaru:_700_/_2_/_0_/_0_

"Next I attack with directly with my Maki-Gire Panda! It's over, Fujimaru!'' A mad-looking panda went running to where the Asian kid was, but it looked like his opponent, Mark, didn't plan on stopping there. (1500/800/4/Beast/EARTH) "I activate the trap card reinforcements, which makes my panda gain 500 attack points!''

A bunch of soldiers appeared behind the panda, making its attack raise. (2000/800/4/Beast/EARTH)

Sean saw how the attack points of the panda raised, which would inflict more physical pain into his opponent. He turned to Mara and said, "Find a fountain near here and fill a bottle of water with it, we'll need it.'' He then turned his head back to where the duel was taking place and yelled, "Leave him alone!''. The effort was useless, as the reinforced panda stroke Fujimaru right on his face, making him fall to the floor.

Mark:_5600_/_1_/_1_/_2_-Fujimaru:_0000_

Sean went where Fujimaru was and stood between him and the bully, Mark.

"So, that's how you start the first day of Middle school?'' Sean asked looking at him fiercely. His usual, lazy face was almost gone. "By bullying and inflicting more damage than you should?''

The bully smirked. "Geez kid, I don't care about him. I just needed to see if he was any good, which he obviously isn't.'' He laughed loudly. ''And, as he sucks, he deserved some pain. Plus, you don't even know our names, why do you even care?''

Sean looked at his eyes with determination. "If knowing your name would make me care, then tell me. By hearing you guys duel, I've already figured out your opponent's name is Fujimaru, so what's yours?''

"Just remember it's Mark, even though you won't need to know it when I beat you in a duel!'' He laughed as he turned around and left the hall in which the duel had just taken place.

Sean then turned around to look at Fujimaru. "Are you ok?'' He asked

Fujimaru then tried to stand up, but he fell to the floor again as he didn't have any forces left because of the huge direct attack he had just received. Mara then came running with a bottle of water.

"Sean…'' She said softly. "I'm sorry for being late; I just couldn't find a fountain. This middle school is too big for me…''

Sean smiled at her, saying, "It's ok.'' He then took the bottle of water of her hands and threw the water at Fujimaru's face, waking him up.

"Agh please don't attack anymore!'' He exclaimed as his eyes opened. He had green eyes, just like Sean, and long blond hair that reached his shoulders. He also had a pale face without any kind of acne, something really weird for a guy of that age. He then looked at the two students in front of him and sighed, closing his eyes for a second before looking at them again and asking. "Is it over?''

Sean and Mara looked at each other and smiled back at him. "Yeah, it is.'' Sean answered. "You're now safe. I'm Sean.'' He said tending his hand at him

"And I'm Mara.''

Fujimaru got up. "Oh, I'm Fujimaru, nice to meet you. I'm new here, and it looks like I found a bad person to begin with this year…''

Mara looked where Mark had just been. "He is such a…'' her face got red ''not-so-good person.''

Sean laughed, "Mara is the sweetest person I've ever met; she'll never insult anyone. The worst word she's ever said is the word bad. Or the word worst. Depends on how you look at it''

"Hey, Sean…'' Mara complained.

Then Fujimaru and Sean started laughing, and so did Mara. When they stopped, Sean asked Fujimaru, "So, what kind of deck do you use?''

"I use Light Monsters basically, and having a lot of copies of them on the field and graveyard for swarming.''

Sean started thinking, and then he reached into his pocket to get out a card for Fujimaru. "Hey, you can use this monster. If you like swarming with Light Attribute monsters, then I bet Guardian of Order is the best card for you!''

Fujimaru looked at the card his new friend had just given him.

"Sean…'' He murmured. "This is so cool. And we've just met, don't you want anything in exchange?''

Sean negated with his head while holding a smile. "Nah, just take it.''

Then, the bell rang, and the three of them ran for their next class.

2 Years Later, when Sean, John, and Mara were freshmen in High School.

"AND, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IT LOOKS LIKE JOHN HAS OUR CHALLENGER IN A PINCH AGAIN! I BET HE DIDN'T SEE THE DESTRUCTION OF HIS MONSTERS COMING IN HIS OWN BATTLE PHASE!''

The crowd cheered on as two young duelists played against each other in a big stage, being filmed by cameras and seen by all kinds of spectators. One of them was athletic looking with brownish hair, and had a smile in his tanned face, looking at his opponent with his brown eyes. His opponent, in exchange, wasn't looking good at all: He had sweat all over his face, and his hair was all messed up. He had lost two of his monster just now, attacking and leading them into the opponent's trap, which had been fatal for them.

There was a huge screen that had their faces, as well as their names and the duel stats they both had at that moment. The following could now be seen there:

John:_8000_/_2_/_0_/_2_-Christopher:_1200_/_2_/_0_/_1_

The one sweating and having a bad time, Christopher, placed a card on his Duel Disk saying:

"I remove from play the two insect type monsters that have been destroyed during this turn's battle phase to special summon Doom Dozer from my hand! (2800/2600/8/Insect/EARTH)'' He recovered his posture a little, emboldened by the card he just played. ''Now let's see how you fight against it along with my insect knight (1900/1500/4/Insect/EARTH). I end my turn.'' When John drew, the neon board read:

John:_8000_/_3_/_0_/_2_-Christopher:_1200_/_1_/_0_/_2_

"I'll go then." John said imperiously. He looked at his field, which reassured the crowd that he was going to win. He had his Archfiend Soldier, a demonic fiend with a sword in his hand a cloak, possessing 1900 ATK, plus a rock defensive monster called Legendary Jujitsu Master, with 1800 DEF and the ability to make any monster that attacked it retreat back to the top of its owner deck after the attack. But using those two monsters by themselves wasn't what John was planning, as they still couldn't beat Doom Dozer, the most powerful insect-type monster.

"It's time for me to end this duel, my friend." He said in an imperious tone. "I told you, insects will never form part of the Meta, or, in other words, one of the world's greatest decks. And now I'll show you why.'' He took a card from his hand and put it in the duel disk with a smile. "I activate Dark Fusion! This lets me fuse together a Rock-type monster and a Fiend type monster, like my Legendary Jujitsu Master and my Archfiend Soldier.'' A fire started to burn the two mentioned creatures together, making them scream in horror. John closed his eyes and started to chant, "In a corrupted world as the one we live in, only the most powerful between all the evil ones will prevail. Fuse Summon! Show me your power, Evil Hero Dark Gaia!''

A demon made of stone came from the flames that the dark fusion had made, with powerful claws and giant wings that gave it a mighty look. (3200/0/8/Fiend/EARTH)

''Evil Hero Dark Gaia's attack is equal to the combined attack of the monsters used to Fuse Summon it. So now it has the great amount of 3200 Attack Points!''

''Wh-What!'' Asked the challenger stunned. ''So… I lose?''

''Exactly!'' Exclaimed John triumphantly. ''Evil Hero Dark Gaia, attack his Insect Knight with Demonic Earth Strike!''

The fiend slashed the insect with its claws, destroying it and taking away the rest of Christopher's life points.

John:_8000_/_2_/_0_/_1_-Christopher:_0000_

''AND THAT'S ANOTHER WIN FOR OUR UNDEFEATED HIGH SCHOOL CHAPION! HE MAY BE JUST A FRESHMAN, BUT HE'S DEFINETELY ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST DUELISTS!''

The crowd cheered as John waved his hand and smiled at everyone, holding Evil Hero Dark Gaia in his other hand, until…

The television was turned off by an accurate-thrown shoe, property of Fujimaru, a 14-year old guy that was just watching the show. He wore glasses in front of his blue-eyes, had long blond hair that reached his shoulders and a face which had an expression that looked at the tv with disgust as Sean, who was right next to him, said:

''I hate that guy. It looks like he shows off more than he duels. And the worst thing is that he now is in our high school. He used to go to another Elementary School, but our High school is the only one near that's fairly good…'' Sean concluded with his arms crossed.

''Oh, come on, you gotta admit he is very good.'' Fujimaru replied. ''But I hate that Evil Hero Dark Gaia. It's too powerful… And John is very skilled as well.''

''Yeah, but he's still full of hot hair.'' said the soft voice of Mara, so Sean turned his head and looked at her. She had grown up a lot since middle school, with brown hair being partially blond in some parts, but natural after all, brown eyes, and a face that had been carefully taken care of.

''Mara, I know he's your brother, but we're talking about him impartially now.'' Sean turned his head again and looked at the black guy who had just replied, who had really short hair and brown eyes. He was taller than everyone else in that room, and his name Robert. He had been friends with them since the beginning of High school. He kept going, ''We're talking about his dueling techniques in an unbiased way. And I think he is kind of monothematic, always about his Evil Hero Dark Gaia and all that.''

''Rob is right on that one.'' A girly voice said. Sean looked at the one who had just agreed with Rob; a beautiful girl named Ashley with green eyes and dark hair, being a year older than everyone else, with the exception of Rob, who was her age. ''He should try using some other kind of deck for once, because one day a guy will come that will beat his deck using an anti-meta deck.''

''Ha, they wouldn't dare.'' Sean said with a smile. ''If they want to beat him fair and square in front of the cameras and a bunch of spectators, they'll have to do it with their own personal decks. People won't like them as much if they just use a deck to counter John's deck.''

Fujimaru coughed and said: ''Guys, if I remember correct, we weren't here to talk about John, weren't we?

''Oh, yeah, the bully, dude!'' Rob Exclaimed. ''We need to do something about him. He's stealing everyone's cards by winning them in duels!''

''Yeah, Mark. He may good at dueling but…'' Sean's expression darkened as he said the following, ''he has no right stealing people's cards when he wins a match. It's totally unfair for beginners who are still learning.''

''Yeah, plus that… that…'' It looked like Ashley was about to explode saying, ''bad woman of Shannon. Gosh, I hate her. She and her harpies… they make me sick.''

Rob laughed while looking at Ashley. ''Wow, it looks like someone here wants revenge for an old match, right?''

''Oh, shut up.'' Replied Ashley punching him softly.

''Guys, cut it out!'' Fujimaru stood up as he ordered them to stop. ''If we are going to end that bully's game, we need to act together as a team. Remember, even if he loses, we still have his two other friends to deal with, Shannon and Peter. Along with the bully, Mark, they are three. We may be five, but they are very good, and they won't duel us in a five-to-three duel.''

''Yeah, and that's why I've come up with a plan.'' Ashley said with smile on her face. ''First, Mara and Rob will lure them to disperse by saying there is something wrong, Mara, you take Shannon and go to the park, where I'll be waiting, and Rob, you go to the back of the school, where Sean will be waiting.''

Fujimaru smiled. ''And then I'll go ahead and duel Mark. We won't be able to duel the three of them in the same place, as they'll know we are trying to take them down.''

''Yeah, but Sean and Ashley need to get people in the park by the time we get their opponents there.''

''I've already worked on that.'' Sean said with that lazy smile of his. ''Me and Mara, we know tons of people, so I think enough will come and watch the duels at the places we talked about''

''Good job Sean.'' Fujimaru complimented him. ''There will obviously be people anyways at the dueling area, where I'll defeat Mark. Our plan is perfect, except for the fact that…'' he looked at Ashley and said: ''Ashley, we've been studying our opponents for weeks now. And you know Shannon uses WIND attribute monsters.''

''Yeah, but…'' Ashley seemed disappointed.

''No 'buts', Ashley. You know we can't afford to lose this one. Your deck revolves around strengthening WIND type monster and getting back row (spell and trap) advantage. Harpies, not only they'll be strengthened by your 'Bladerfly', but they'll also destroy your spells and traps pretty quick as well, leaving you open for your own effects to fire back, since they rely on you having back row advantage.''

''Ok… But then, who'll be the one dueling her?'' Ashley asked.

''We'll switch places.'' Mara told her in her soft, cute voice. ''My Naturia monsters rely on the opponent using spells, traps, and summoning. You know Harpies special summon a lot, right? I'll stop them.'' She ended the phrase with a smile.

''Ok, I think there should be no more talking!'' Rob said.

''Just remember the kind of decks you guys will be facing.'' Fujimaru reminded them as if he was their teacher. ''Sean, do you remember the deck Peter uses?''

''Uh… It was…'' Sean seemed kind of lost, like always ''Iron Chains, right? They use deck and life point destruction.''

''Exactly, and be careful with his ace card, 'Iron Chain Dragon'. It'll come out when you least expect it, and it has 2500 ATK.''

''Ouch, that's heavy.'' Sean said looking at the ceiling.

''Yeah, it is,'' replied Fujimaru, retrieving a card from his pocked ''that's the reason why I'm gonna give you this card: Warrior Elimination. This will destroy all warrior-type monsters on the field, and most cards in Peter's deck are warriors, so…''

''Oh, thanks.'' Sean said lazily as he took the card

Fujimaru turned and looked at Mara, ''Mara, you know how Harpies go, right?''

''Perfectly.'' She assured with a smile

''Ok, then…'' He cleared his throat. His next phrase sounded kind of melancholic "I'm happy I met you all.''

Ashley laughed. "Haha, same here, Fuji. You guys are just freshmen, so you needed some sophomore aid from me and Rob, right?'' She said winking at Rob as she elbowed him.

He blushed and said, "Yeah, she's right, we were lucky to meet you guys too. At least it's good to know that Sean and Mara knew each other from before.''

Fujimaru looked at Sean proudly. "Yeah, Sean has defended me against a lot of racist people who think that the fact that I have Japanese roots gives them a right to insult and bully me since Middle School.''

"Oh, it was cool to meet you guys too.'' Sean said with his lazy smile. He then put his hand in the middle of all the people present there, and everyone else put a hand on top of his. "Ready?'' He asked.

''Let's go!'' They all yelled at the same time.

That night, Sean didn't sleep well. He dreamed of all his monsters being destroyed at the same time. ''Oh well, I'll just protect my life points with this defensive cards that canstop him from attacking.'' He said to himself within his own dream

Then, his opponent started to use card effects that inflicted him burn damage, or, in other words, that took life points off him without having to attack.

''Dang it… There is gotta be something in my deck I can use.'' He said to himself again. ''I bet if I'm lucky I'll draw it.''

He then looked at his deck and discovered with apprehension that he had a few cards left, and the good ones had been sent to the graveyard without him having an opportunity to even play them.

''Oh, no! Now what?''

Then he saw Evil Hero Dark Gaia right in front of him, with the gazillion attack points it always had.

''I hate that monster.''

At that moment, Dark Gaia raised himself up to the skies, covering the moon itself. Then, without farther ado, it fell down at an amazing speed, destroying all of Sean's life points.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – Taking Down What's Unfair**

The next day, everyone in Fujimaru's group was excited. They all knew what to do since they had been preparing this for weeks. When school was over, Sean and Mara started to call people to the back of the school and the park, respectively. They also knew that the group wouldn't return the stolen cards unless they all got defeated at about the same time, reason why only one of the bullies in the group was the one dueling at a time, so they would never return their lost cards even if they lost. But, with the plan Fujimaru had thought of, they'd all be defeated at the same time without knowing, but with witnesses to prove it.

As soon as Fujimaru, Rob, and Ashley got the dueling area, they saw Mark and his two friends trying to get people to duel them and bet their best cards on it. Mark was tall and athletic, with a blond and spiky hair and green eyes, while Shannon was the usual pretty girl with blond hair and blue eyes that wore more make up than she had face. Peter was a brown-haired guy with brown eyes that loved eating a lot and hated sports, reason why he was a bit overweight

''Ok guys.'' Fujimaru was clearly excited. ''This is the last time these guys will be asking for duels like that. Ready?''

''Of course!'' The other two yelled excitedly.

''Ok, then let's go!'' Fujimaru ordered

''Hey, you stupid punk!'' Rob yelled at Peter. ''Catch me if you can! But you probably won't with all the fat you have over there.''

Peter looked at him and was about to run after him when Mark stopped him, saying, ''It's not worth it, don't go.''

''That would be the case if you didn't have to duel me!'' Fujimaru said behind Mark.

Mark turned around and evaluated Fujimaru. He smiled when he recognized the guy he had beaten two years ago.

''Very well, but you know the rules. If I beat you, then you give me your best card. If you beat me, I would give you my best card, but… It's shared between me and my companions, sorry.''

''How about this?'' Fuimaru asked. ''If I defeat all of you within… 30 minutes, let's say, then you all would have to give me all cards you've gotten from people, which you share, right?''

Mark thought about it, and then smiled. ''Ok.'' He said. Then he turned around and told his friends: ''You guys get out of here.''

At the moment he said that, Peter started to run after Rob, and Ashley said:

''Hey Shannon, there is this hot guy in the park, and guess what, he said he wanted to meet you. I can't remember his name though, it was something like…''

''Oh my gosh, Taylor Lautner!'' Shannon suddenly became excited and started to run towards the park faster than any Cross Country runner Ashley had ever seen.

''Geez, some girls are just crazy.'' She shook her head. ''Everyone knows that Robert Pattinson is much more handsome.'' Shea said as she started running after Shannon.

''What are these guys doing?'' Mark wondered out loud. ''They are crazier every day.''

''Concentrate on the duel!'' Fujimaru told him.

''As you want, but, even if you beat me, you won't get my best cards… because you would have to beat both of my friends plus me in half an hour! That would be possible, of course, but, seeing how they are getting farther and farther now… I've got nothing to lose while you have some good cards to hand in to me, I'm sure of that!''

Fujimaru was about to smile, when he realized that if did that Mark would suspect of his plan, so he said: ''darn it… that's true.''

''Hahaha, you should have realized that already, you stupid Asian!'' He seemed amused. ''But you can't retreat now. Duel!''

**Fujimaru:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****Mark:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''You can go first, Asian.'' Mark stated as they drew their cards. ''I mean, you may have a possibility to win if you start, right?''

Fujimaru smiled, ready to reply: ''So, you think that, by letting me go first, you're making yourself look good in front of all these people?'' He drew his sixth card, starting his turn that way. ''Let me tell you something: I'm not stupid. I know you use a beatdown deck, and that you'll be more comfortable being second, while looking like you're giving me advantage.''

''Geez, you really like big words, do you?'' Mark said as he realized Fujimaru was smarted than he thought. ''Just shut up and play.''

''You'll regret those words.'' Fujimaru assured him. ''I put a face-down monster and three face-down cards, thus ending my turn!''

Mark drew a card, looked at his hand, and a smirk was made on his face.

**Fujimaru:**_8000 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 3 _**/ **_0_** - ****Mark:**_8000 _**/ **_6 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''Haha, that'll be easy to beat.'' Mark said happily. ''Destroying people who use face-down cards is my specialty! I activate the magic card, Heavy Storm!''

The crowd made an intense 'ow!' as a storm began to appear in the field, threatening to destroy all spells and traps in it.

''Geez, don't be a fool.'' Fujimaru told him. ''Did you seriously think I'd play my back row without defense? I negate your magic card with my counter trap, Curse of Royal! It negates the activation and destroys a spell or trap that threatens to destroy spells and traps on the field!''

Mark had now been left in a ridiculous position because of the wasting of a limited, powerful card.

''You… You won't get off that easily. I summon my Gyaku-Gyre Panda!''

A panda with red eyes and a mean look was now watching Fujimaru with anger, holding a bamboo stick in order to inflict a lot of damage. (800/1600/3/Beast/EARTH)

''My Gyaku-Gyre Panda gains 500 ATK for each monster you control'' Mark said pridefully ''Now, my panda, crush his face-down monster with Bamboo of Madness!'' (1300/1600/3/Beast/EARTH)

The warrior jumped at the mysterious card with his sword right up in the air, and the card was flipped up, revealing an angel with four wings and a white robe. (1400/800/4/Fairy/Light)

''Oh, I forgot to mention.'' Mark declared. ''My Gyaku-Gyre inflicts piercing damage.''

The white angel was shattered, as well as 500 of Fujimaru's life points.

**Fujimaru:**_7500 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 2 _**/ **_0_** - ****Mark:**_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''But, when my Shinning Angel is destroyed by battle I can special summon a LIGHT monster with 1500 ATK or less from my deck in attack mode!'' Fujimaru took his deck and then summoned a monster to his field. ''And I choose Freya, Spirit of Victory!''

A cheerleader with grey hair and halos on her ankles and hands was now standing in Fujimaru's field, jumping and cheering. (100/100/1/Fairy/LIGHT)

''While I control Freya, Spirit of Victory face-up on the field, all my fairy type monsters see their attack increased by 400!'' (500/100/1/Fairy/LIGHT)

''Oh, wow, so you pretend to beat me by using a freaking cheerleader? Please…'' Mark couldn't believe there was a card based off a cheerleader yet. ''I place a face-down and end my turn.''

Fujimaru smiled as he drew a card.

**Fujimaru:**_7500 _**/ **_3 _**/**_ 2 _**/ **_1_** - ****Mark:**_8000 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 1_

Then he said, ''I'll now show you the power of combos! I activate my trap, Next to be Lost! I can select a face-up monster on my side of the field and then send to the graveyard a monster with the same name from my deck! So I send a second Freya, Spirit of Victory to the card graveyard!''

''Wow, now that was a great combo.'' Mark clapped ironically at Fujimaru. ''You sent one of your own monsters to the graveyard. Way to go.''

Fujimaru completely ignored him. He knew he had half an hour to beat him, and losing time wasn't an option. ''Now I activate my trap, limit reverse! This lets me revive a monster with 1000 ATK or less from my graveyard in attack position!''

A second cheerleader was summoned, now cheering, dancing, and jumping along with the other one.

''So what? Two chicks instead of one? I'll crush them both''

''Well, that would be if you could crush them just like that. But the thing is that Freya cannot be attacked while I have another monster on my field. And, as the other monster is Freya, which shares that ability… You cannot attack my two monsters.''

Mark growled as he realized he was in serious trouble. Fujimaru kept going:

''Next I activate my magic card, reasoning! Now you'll have to use your common sense and say the level of a monster, and then I pick up cards until I reach a monster, and if it has the same level you said, I send it to the graveyard. If not, then I special summon it.''

''Tsk, you think I'm stupid?'' Mark said with a smile, trying not to let Fujimaru make him look like a fool. ''I choose the most common card level, level 4.''

''All right then.'' He picked three cards, the last one being a monster. ''Now I have to show you my Dimensional Alchemist.''

''Hahaha!'' Mark laughed. ''You're a loser. That monster is level 4. Now you have to send it to the graveyard.''

There was something weird. Fujimaru had just lost a card, and he only had one card in his hand left, plus two useless cheerleaders on the field that were just for defense, but… He was smiling.

''We'll see who's stupid when I summon my Freed, the Brave Wanderer. He is not a fairy, he's a warrior, so he won't gain any attack points.''

A long-haired blond warrior was summoned to the field, wearing a silver armor and holding a sword calmly. (1700/1200/4/Warrior/LIGHT)

''Ok Fujimaru, that was stupid. My panda gains 500 ATK for each of your monsters, and as you have three, it now has 2300 ATK!''

''It doesn't matter, as Freed the Brave Wanderer has a very unique special ability. By removing from play two LIGHT attribute monsters, like my Shinning Angel and the one you just sent to the graveyard, the Dimensional Alchemist, I can destroy a face-up monster that has more attack that him! Go, Light Revenge!''

Everyone started to cheer at Fujimaru, as he had made Mark look like an idiot for giving him the right cards in his graveyard to destroy Mark's own monster. The bully started to look at his opponent with anger as his panda was surrounded in a flashing of light made by souls of the two monsters he had sent to the graveyard. These two souls came from Freed's hand and disappeared once the Panda was destroyed.

''Now Freed, direct attack with flashing slash!''

Mark was about to press a button in his duel disk, but then stopped and didn't do anything. The wanderer cut through him cleanly, making him bend a little, as the holograms could be felt.

''And, as your monster is now gone, I attack directly with my Freyas!'' Fujimaru continued

''Not so fast, you Asian, I have a trap!'' Mark smiled painfully as he activated it, since he had just received a direct attack. ''Sakuretsu armor! This will destroy any attacking monster. Good thing I didn't activate it with your Freed, huh? Now you don't have that unbreakable defense over there.''

The Freya revived by the Limit Reverse was stamped and destroyedagainst a scary-looking armor, so only one of the two fairies was able to attack directly successfully.

''I place a face-down and end my turn.'' Fujimaru said with his eyes completely invisible behind his glasses.

''Time to kick your butt then!'' Mark exclaimed as he drew.

**Fujimaru:**_7500 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_2_** - ****Mark:**_5800 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''I activate the spell card cost down! By discarding skill successor to the graveyard, one monster in my hand looses two levels!''

_Uh-oh, there comes the big guy_… Fujimaru thought with apprehension.

''I summon without a sacrifice what now is a level 4 monster, the Twinheaded Beast!''

A flaming centaur with two lion heads covered with blazing fire started trotting through the field and roared as everything it touched was set into a holographic flame. (1700/1900/5/Beast/FIRE)

''And heads isn't the only thing that my monster has twice.'' Mark intervened looking at his beast. ''It can also attack twice each turn!''

''Oh, big deal.'' Fujimaru seemed sure of himself. ''Freed has the same number of attack points as your monster.

Mark smiled. ''Yeah, that would be the case if I hadn't discarded a little trap with my Cost Down…''

Fujimaru's expression turned pale.

''No way… that trap card you sent to the graveyard…''

''Exactly. It was Skill Successor.'' Mark pointed out. ''It's a trap card, so I couldn't have been able to use it this turn, but… as I've sent it to the graveyard, I can activate its second effect. And this effect activates while it is in the graveyard! By removing it from play, one of my monsters gains 800 attack points until the end of this turn!''

The Twinheaded beast started roaring even harder, and the flames on it got larger than before, as well as its attack. (2500/1900/5/Beast/FIRE)

**Fujimaru:**_7500 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_2_** - ****Mark:**_5800 _**/ **_1 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''Now, my Twinheaded Beast, obliterate all monsters he has with Double Burning Trot!''

The monster started trotting towards Fred, making a holographic fire trail after it, and raising its arms to destroy the warrior in front of it. As he got closer to Fujimaru's monsters, everyone yelled loudly in fear for him.

When Shannon got to the park, she was out of breath, tired, and disappointed. She looked around and saw what she was looking for: a crowd of people in a circle, surrounding the dueling field the park had. She pushed through the crowd with fervor, thinking that his beloved actor would be on the dueling field, but instead there was a girl she knew from her math class: Mara. She was standing there, smiling, and, when she saw Shannon coming into the dueling field, she said:

"I'm sorry you don't get to see the person you're looking for." Her voice tone was soft and sweet, like she actually was sorry. "But, in order to compensate your crushed dreams, I'll duel you, ok?''

"You want me to kick your butt?'' Shannon's face had now recovered her color, and she was smiling maliciously. "You're on.''

Everyone knew Shannon had always been jealous at Mara, because, even though Shannon was one of the most popular girls at school, Mara had sweetness and a cuteness that Shannon never had. That's why she could never turn down a challenge made by Mara.

"Duel!''

**Mara:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****Shannon:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

"The challenger goes first." Shannon said in a frivolous tone.

"Thank you." Mara responded with a smile. "And I'll open up with Naturia Forest!''

Holographic trees, mosses, and flowers now covered the field beautifully, making everyone get out an 'awww' that made Shannon sick.

"I'll keep going with Naturia Butterfly"

A small Butterfly was summoned and sat on top of a flower. (500/1200/3/Insect/EARTH)

"I'll place three face-down cards and end my turn.''

"Ha, you've wasted like 5 cards in your hand for nothing." Shannon said. "Destroying them will be really easy. Draw!''

**Mara:**_8000 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 4 _**/ **_1_** -Naturia Forest- ****Shannon:**_8000 _**/ **_6 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''I activate the effect of the Harpie Queen in my hand! By discarding it to the graveyard, I can take a 'Harpie's Hunting Ground' Field Spell Card from my deck to my hand, which will destroy your face-down cards and…''

"Uh… Shannon…" Mara was looking at the floor, shy. "I am sorry, but I think I'm going to discard that field spell card from your hand with my face-down." She pressed a button in her duel disk and a counter trap was activated. "Here is drastic Drop Off. Whenever you add a card from your deck to your hand, I can discard it with this card."

Shannon's look was scary. "You… I'm going to…"

"I'm sorry to interrupt you again." Mara apologized. "But, thanks to Naturia Forest, when I negate your cards, I can get one level three or lower 'Naturia' monster from my deck to my hand, like Naturia Ladybug.''

**Mara:**_8000 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 3 _**/ **_1_** -Naturia Forest- ****Shannon:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

"Ugh!'' Shannon looked at the people around her and saw how they were all looking at Mara. She had to get their attention back. "I summon Harpie Lady!''

A beautiful woman with wings below her arms flew over to the battle field and landed with her claws on the ground. (1300/1400/4/Winged-Beast/WIND)

"And now watch this! I activate the spell Elegant Egotist! So now I can special summon another Harpie Lady to the field and…"

"Shannon, uh… It's nothing personal, but…"

"Oh, come on!" Shannon was starting to get annoyed. "Don't tell me you have another of those counter traps."

"Well the thing is that…" She activated her face-down card. "I have my Magic Jammer Card, so I can discard my Naturia Ladybug to negate your Elegant Egotist and destroy it…"

"Ok, ok!" Shannon yelled. "Can I just go?''

"Yeah, just a moment, I need to get a level three or lower Naturia monster from my deck to my hand." Mara pointed out. "And I think I'll take a second Naturia Lady Bug."

**Mara:**_8000 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 2 _**/ **_1_** -Naturia Forest- ****Shannon:**_8000 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

Shannon looked as if she could care less. "Darn lady bugs and crap… I attack with my Harpie Lady to your Butterfly! Harpie Slash!''

"Uh, Shannon…" Mara was looking at the floor and her face was completely red. "My Butterfly has a special ability… By sending the top card in my deck to the graveyard I…"

"Oh wait, I know." Shannon sounded tired. "You can negate whatever crap and blah blah blah…"

"Actually, I just can negate your attack once per turn and…"

"Ok, just freaking do it already!" Shannon replied.

The butterfly moved its wings, creating a wind that stopped the Harpie.

"I place a face-down and end my turn" Shannon stated.

"My turn then." Mara said softly as she drew.

**Mara:**_8000 _**/ **_3 _**/**_ 2 _**/ **_1_** -Naturia Forest- ****Shannon:**_8000 _**/ **_2 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 1_

"I activate my trap, Revival Gift. This way I can special summon a level 2 or lower monster from my graveyard. Be revived, Naturia Ladybug!''

A little ladybug appeared from the stem of a plant, and ran to the surface of the leaf. (100/100/1/Insect/EARTH)

"Now I'll summon another Naturia Ladybug from my hand in attack mode!''

Another ladybug ran into the surface of a different leaf, and, with its apparition, Mara's side of the forest had three monsters now, with a butterfly and two ladybugs.

"That was a really smart move." Shannon pointed out sarcastically. "Summoning two wimps in attack position.''

"Please Shannon, don't underestimate my friends." Mara pledged in soft voice. "Because my Butterfly, combined with other of my Naturia monsters, can call out the most powerful forces of the forest. I think it's because that radiation thing we once studied at school…"

"Wh-What?" Shannon seemed stunned. "You're kidding me."

"I'm sorry, but I take dueling seriously, so I don't make jokes during duels. If you want, we can tell each other some jokes after this duel is over." She paused, breathed, and then stated softly: "I'm tuning my level three tuner monster, Naturia Butterfly, with my two level ones non-tuner monsters, Naturia Lady Bugs."

Right when she said that, the butterfly turned into three rings, one for each level, and the two ladybugs turned into one star each that started to pass through them. Then, Mara chanted:

"When the forces of the forest are being threatened, the mighty defender will awaken!'' Within the three rings a shiny light was made, and then Mara finished saying: "Synchro Summon! Protect the Forest, Naturia Beast!''

A green tiger with a calmed facial expression and tree branches on its legs appeared from the shiny light, trotting and getting into the battlefield. (2200/1700/5/Beast/EARTH)

"Geez, that's…" Shannon looked stunned.

"That's not all." Mara said. "When a monster is synchro summoned into my field, I can revive my Naturia Ladybugs from my graveyard. But they won't be staying on the field for long, as I can sacrifice them to make one of synchro monsters gain 1000 ATK for each! Go, Naturia Synchro Support!''

The two ladybugs flew towards the beast and attached to its back, giving it an even mightier look. (ATK: 4200)

"4200 ATK?'' Shannon couldn't believe it. "Are you insane!''

"Thanks for asking Shannon." Mara answered with a smile. "But no, I am in a perfect state of mind. And to prove it, I'll special summon Naturia Hydrangea from my hand, and I can do this because of its effect, which lets me special summon it the turn I've activated the effect of one of my Naturia Monsters, such as the ladybugs.''

A flowering plant with two dark eyes covered by the shadows between its blue flowers and the stem put its roots into the battle field. (1900/2000/5/Plant/EARTH)

'' Now I'll attack with my Naturia Beast to your Harpie Lady."

The beast used its claws to slash the bird woman in front of it, making a wave that hit Shannon and made her fall back.

**Mara:**_8000 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 2 _**/ **_1_** -Naturia Forest- ****Shannon:**_5100 _**/ **_2 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 0_

**A/N: Remember that one of the trap cards Mara has is useless, as it is just a face-up Revival Gift that stays there for the rest of the duel, and the other one is the Naturia Forest.**

"Oh I'm sorry, are you ok?" Mara asked trying to look at Shannon from her position, a hard task since the Naturia Beast was right between the two girls.

Shannon got up and yelled: "I don't need your compassion! Finish your attacks!"

"Uh… Ok then, if that's what you want… I attack directly with my Naturia Hydrangea."

Two leafs on the stem of the flowers turned into whips, which got larger and hit Shannon.

**Mara:**_8000 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 2 _**/ **_2_** -Naturia Forest- ****Shannon:**_3200 _**/ **_2 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 1_

"I now put a face-down and end my turn." Stated Mara.

Shannon was hyperventilating, looking at Mara with anger while everyone else watched the duel impressed. Shannon then caught her breath and drew a card.

**Mara:**_8000 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 3 _**/ **_2_** -Naturia Forest- ****Shannon:**_3200 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 1_

"I activate my trap, Hysteric Party! By discarding a card from my hand, I can special summon as many Harpie Ladies as I want from my graveyard! And, since Harpie Queen counts as one of them while she is there, she'll be revived along with my Harpie Ladie!''

Two Harpies now flew on the field, like birds looking for their pray. Shannon seemed proud of them. (1300/1400/4/Winged Beast/WIND) & (1900/1200/4/Winged Beast/WIND)

''Pretty cool technique, huh?''

"Oh… I guess so…''

"I guess so!'' Shannon was getting angry again, but then she stopped and breathed slowly, and after that she said: "Oh well, I don't care. I summon Harpie's Pet Baby Dragon.''

A leash appeared in the two Harpie's hands, which were now holding a little red dragon breathing fire. (1200/600/4/Dragon/WIND)

''Now I activate my Harpie's Baby Pet Dragon effects. First, when I have at least one other Harpie Lady on my field, you can only select it as an attack target. Then, if I have at least two, its original attack points are doubled (2400/600/4/Dragon/WIND). So now that my Harpie's Pet Baby Dragon is more powerful, I attack with it to your Naturia Beast!''

The dragon breathed fire all over the green beast, burning it into ashes.

''As you don't have any cards left in your hand, I'll end my turn.'' Shannon concluded with a smile. ''But I think this duel is pretty much over now!''

**Mara:**_7800 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 3 _**/ **_1_** -Naturia Forest- ****Shannon:**_3200 _**/ **_1 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 3_

**A/N: The trap card of Shannon is that face-up hysteric Party, which stays there until the Harpies are destroyed. And two of Mara's back row are already face-up.**

When Peter got where Rob and Sean were standing, he was panting and out of breath, even though they had just ran from the Dueling Fields of the school to the back door of it. PE wasn't precisely the class he was the best at. Rob and Sean were blatantly trying not to laugh at him, which made Peter really mad, reason why he didn't notice the people surrounding them.

''Hey you!'' He yelled pointing at Rob. ''Come over here and I'll teach you not to insult me!''

Rob looked at Sean, who nodded and stepped in front of him protectively.

''You'll have to beat me in a duel if you want to get to him.'' Sean stated.

Peter started at him for a few seconds and the he burst out laughing.

''Hahaha! Ok, but if I beat you, you'll give me your best card! And all everyone will know how much of a loser you guys are!''

''Bring it on!'' Sean shouted

**Sean:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****Peter:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''The challenger goes first,'' Sean reminded Peter while he drew, ''so I put a face down monster, a face-down card, and rest it there.''

''Draw!'' Peter said.

**Sean:**_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_1_** - ****Peter:**_8000 _**/ **_6 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''Bah, defending won't do you any good. I summon Iron Chain Coil!'' A little brown robot with chains as arms and explosives on his back walked into the field slowly. (1100/1600/3/Machine/EARTH)

''Now I activate its special ability.'' Peter continued. ''I can increase the attack of an iron chain monster in my side of the field by 300 attack points, including itself.'' (1400/1600/3/Machine/EARTH)

''Now my coil, attack his face down monster with iron explosion!''

The little machine took an explosive from its back and threw it to the face down monster, which revealed itself to be a turtle with a UFO instead of a shell. (1400/1200/4/Machine/FIRE)

The monster blew up into pieces, leaving only the UFO behind. Then, the trap behind it was activated.

''I can now activate my face-down trap card, Backfire!'' Sean sounded excited, unlike his usual self, who sounded sleepy and tired. ''Every time a FIRE type monster is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, I can inflict 500 points of damage to you! ''

''What? No!'' A gigantic flame came from where the turtle had been and hit Peter right in his face.

**Sean:**_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_1_** - ****Peter:**_7500 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''Hey, look, I get to activate my UFO turtle's special ability now!'' Sean said, looking at the card the Iron Chain Coil had just destroyed. ''Looks like I can special summon a FIRE attribute monster with 1500 ATK or less from my deck in face-up attack position, like my Solar Flame Dragon!'' (1500/1000/4/Pyro/FIRE)

A serpent-like dragon without wings and having fire on its head came from the inside of the UFO, roaring and breathing fire.

Peter looked at it madly, as it was now between him and his opponent.

''Go.'' He said

**Sean:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_1_** - ****Peter:**_7500 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''As you say dude.'' Sean replied. He looked at his hand, picked a card in it and then placed it on the duel disk, saying: ''I summon Charcoal Impachi!''

On the field was now standing a wooden monster, all black because of the fire covering it. (1850/0/4/Pyro/FIRE)

''Now Charcoal Impachi, attack that Iron Chain Coil of his with Wooden Fire Blast!'' Sean ordered, so the little machine was burt down to ashes by the fire that had enveloped it.

**Sean:**_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_2_** - ****Peter:**_7050 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''Then I attack directly with my Solar flame Dragon.'' The monster breathed fire all over the opponent , making him cover himself with his arms.

**Sean:**_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_2_** - ****Peter:**_5550 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''With that I end my turn. But before you draw…''

''What!'' Peter said scared. ''More damage?''

''Sorry dude, but it's my Solar Flame Dragon's one of two special abilities. Each one of my end phases, I inflict 500 points of damage to you.

''Argh!'' Peter exclaimed as a flame tower came from the ground below him, so he put his arms in front of him again, even though Sean knew that wouldn't help the burning.

**Sean:**_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_2_** - ****Peter:**_5050 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''Ouch…'' Peter put his arms back again. ''Wait, two special abilities? What's its other one about?''

''Oh it's something like…'' He looked at the card. ''Uh… Yeah, you can't attack it if I have another Pyro-Type monster in my side of the field.''

Peter drew a card, staring his turn.

**Sean:**_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_2_** - ****Peter:**_5050 _**/ **_6 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''Then that's not a problem for my Iron Chain Repairman!'' Peter replied as a corpulent man with a huge hammer was summoned. (1600/1200/4/Warrior/EARTH)

''This guy's special ability is pretty handy too. I can special summon an Iron Chain monster from my graveyard once per turn, like my Iron Chain Coil. The bad thing about it is that it can't attack the turn I activate its effect. Anyways, I'll activate Iron Chain Coil's special ability as soon as it reaches the field. Of course, it'll be in defense mode.'' (1100/1600/3/Machine/EARTH)

When the little machine came, it gave the repairman some explosives, making its ATK raise. (1900/1200/4/Warrior/EARTH)

''I'll now activate my equip spell card, Mist Body, to my Iron Chain Coil to ensure it won't be destroyed by battle and end my turn.'' Peter finished.

''My turn then, draw!''

**Sean:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_2_** - ****Peter:**_5050 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 2_

''Yup, this looks pretty good… So I'll summon a second Charcoal Impachi, and, as my monsters aren't strong enough, I'll end my turn here. Plus, you receive another 500 points of damage''

**Sean:**_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_3_** - ****Peter:**_4550 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 2_

''What are you doing, summoning more monsters just so I can destroy them?'' Peter asked trying to sound smart, something hard coming from him, a chubby duelist that did nothing but eat and obey Mark.

''Actually, that's pretty much the thing. Remember how hot it gets thanks to Backfire?'' Sean replied with a smile and his eyes closed while pointing at the hologram of his trap card.

The crowd started to laugh at Peter, something that they didn't normally do, as he usually was with Mark. That just got him mad, so he started to yell bluntly.

''I don't care about that trap card, you moron!'' Peter drew a card.

**Sean:**_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_3_** - ****Peter:**_4550 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 2_

''I summon my Iron Chain Snake!'' (800/1200/3/Reptile/EARTH)

A snake with a body made of iron links was now hissing at the monsters in Sean's side of the field with a mean look in its eyes.

''If you think that's all, you're very wrong, as I activate the spell Fissure. This will let me destroy the weakest monster on your side of the field, like your Solar Flame Dragon! So much for its second special ability.''

The dragon burnt up in flames, leaving nothing where it had previously been.

''But now you lose 500 life points.'' Sean reminded him as a flame tower came from the trap card.

**Sean:**_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_2_** - ****Peter:**_4050 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 3_

''But you lose a monster, Sean. And now I'll activate my Iron Chain Snake Special ability, as well as the one of my Iron Chain Coil. First, I can equip my snake to one of your monsters, which will lose 800 ATK, so I'll do it with one of your Impachis (1050/0/4/Pyro/FIRE)''

''Then my Iron Chain Coil gains 300 ATK thanks to its own effect.'' (1400/1600/3/Machine/EARTH)

''Geez, that's a lot of attack point change…'' Sean pointed out

''Yeah, and the best thing is that I've got the strong ones while you have the weak ones! Iron Chain Coil, destroy his weakened Charcoal Impachi!'' Bombs were thrown at the wooden creature, which was wrapped in the iron chain that the body of the snake had made.

**Sean:**_7750 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_1_** - ****Peter:**_3550 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 2_

After the monster was destroyed, and Peter had lost 500 life points because of backfire, he continued, panting because of the fire,

''Now my Iron Chain Snake second effect activates. Whenever the monster it was equipped to is sent to the graveyard, you lose cards from the top of your deck equal to the level of the destroyed monster. The monster I just destroyed was a level 4 monster, so you have to send 4 cards from your deck to the graveyard.''

Sean looked at the cards he was dumping sadly, but, before he could say anything, Peter kept going.

''Now I destroy your last Impachi with my Iron Chain Repairman! I should warn you, whenever this guy destroys a monster by battle you lose 300 life points!''

''And you lose another 500 life poins!'' Sean said as he watched his last monster being destroyed, as well as 350 of his life points.

**Sean:**_7300 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_0_** - ****Peter:**_3050 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 2_

''With that, I end my turn.''

_Whoops, _Sean thought,_ I should be a little more careful with this guy. Oh well, time to defend myself a little bit._

He drew and looked at the new card.

**Sean:**_7300_**/ **_5 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_0_** - ****Peter:**_3050 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 2_

_Hum, Fox Fire… No. It won't be enough defense. I'll use this…_

''I activate Nightmare Steel Cage!'' He stated out loud. ''This will prevent both of us from attacking for two turns. Then I set a monster and end my turn.''

**Sean:**_7300_**/ **_3 _**/**_ 2 _**/ **_1_** - ****Peter:**_3050 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 2_

**A/N: Remember that the spells and trap Sean has are both face-up: Backfire and Nightmare Steel Cage, while the spell Peter has is Mist Body, equipped to Iron Chain Coil**

''Tsk, not attacking won't be a problem for me!'' Peter said. ''To be exact… I have the right card in my hand to play without attacking. I activate Poison Chain, a continuous spell card that will make you send a card from your deck to the graveyard every end phase for every Iron Chain Monster I control, as long as I didn't attack that turn!''

_Now that's bad. _Sean thought. _I drew 5 cards at the beginning of the duel, and four of my turns have passed, so I've drawn 4 cards too. I've searched Solar Flame Dragon, and that's 1 card, plus the 4 cards that snake sent to the graveyard… That makes…_

''If you are trying to count the number of cards you have in your deck,'' Peter said, ''you should know that 14 cards have been taken out of your deck so far. That leaves you with 26 cards in your deck, if you had 40 beforehand.''

Sean looked at him with seriousness, something that he didn't usually do, as he normally acted like the 'chill out' guy.

''Anyways,'' Peter continued, ''I'm still not done. I activate my Iron Chain Repairman's special ability, so I'll revive my Iron Chain Snake. Then, I'll activate hand destruction. We send two cards from hands to the graveyard and then draw two cards. That means deck destruction for you and some monsters I want in my graveyard for me.''

**Sean:**_7300_**/ **_3 _**/**_ 2 _**/ **_1_** - ****Peter:**_3050 _**/ **_2 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 3_

_Darn, now I've got 24 cards left. _Sean thought with apprehension

''And that's still not all. Thanks to my hand destruction, I've sent an Iron Chain monster to my graveyard, and I now summon a second Iron Chain Repairman, with whom I now revive Iron Chain Blaster!''

A warrior holding a huge cannon now filled up the last space in Peter's field, making him look like he had a good field in front of him. (1100/0/2/Warrior/EARTH)

''Now I activate a second Poision Chain and end my turn! This means that you send 10 cards from your deck to the graveyard, as I've got two Iron Chain Repairmans, a Blaster, a Coil, and a Snake!''

**Sean:**_7300_**/ **_3 _**/**_ 2 _**/ **_1_** - ****Peter:**_3050 _**/ **_0 _**/ **_3 _**/**_ 5_

''No…'' Sean muttered. ''Dude, milling is not cool… You're not giving my cards a chance to even fight.''

''Does it seem like I care?'' Peter's tone and the notorious expression is his face made Sean angrier every second.

**Sean:**_7300_**/ **_4 _**/**_ 2 _**/ **_1_** - ****Peter:**_3050 _**/ **_0 _**/ **_3 _**/**_ 5_

''You…'' He looked at the card he had just drawn. He sighed and placed another card in his duel disk.

''I activate Wave-Motion cannon, which will gain a counter every Standby Phase, and I can sacrifice during my main phase to make you lose the same number of Life Points as counters it has times a thousand. Then, I summon a second Solar Flame Dragon, so, at the end of my turn, you'll receive 500 points of damage!''

Even though the holographic flame tower created from the effect of the dragon was a bit painful, Peter looked at Sean with a smile in his face, saying:

''So, is that how you revenge your monsters? Inflicting me 500 points of damage? That's lame.'' He then drew a card

**Sean:**_7300_**/ **_2 _**/**_ 2 _**/ **_1_** - ****Peter:**_2550 _**/ **_1 _**/ **_3 _**/**_ 5_

''I place a face down card, switch all of my monsters into defense mode, and end my turn, so say good bye to another 10 cards.

_Ok, only 3 cards left in his deck now. _Peter thought. _When he draws, that'll be two. I've got this guy. _Peter thought confidently. _Plus, my face down and rare sakuretsu armor will destroy any monster that tries to attack my monsters, as that steel cage is gonna be gone as soon as he draws a card. I think I'm gonna tease him a little more now for calling my chubby._

''So, 3 cards left on your deck, three useless cards that won't stop me. You're done; your whole deck hasn't been able to do a thing, Sean. You and your monsters suck.''

Sean couldn't hold it anymore. He looked at Peter angrily and said: ''The duel is not over until the last card is played.''

''Hahaha!'' Peter started to laugh incredibly loud. ''That would actually be true… If you had any cards to play. Three cards aren't much, aren't they? Plus, only the top one has a chance to be used, as you'll draw it now. But the rest will be milled, and you'll lose the duel!

**Sean:**_7300_**/ **_2 _**/**_ 2 _**/ **_1_** - ****Peter:**_2550 _**/ **_0 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 2_


	3. Chapter 3

**Here is chapter two, I hope you enjoy it. I have to stick with original characters just a bit more, please keep reading even if you don't like them, the anime characters will be here next chapter, but please read this one! **

**One more thing, I don't do chapter summaries at the beginning of each chapter. No one reads them anyways.**

**Forbidden and Limited List: Advanced Format March 2010**

**Chapter 3 – The End of the Plan, The Begging of the Story**

Freed and Freya were destroyed instantly by the burning beast, leaving Fujimaru's field completely empty.

**Fujimaru:**_4700 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_0_** - ****Mark:**_5800 _**/ **_1 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''That was easy.'' Mark said with a smile. ''Now you've got no monsters and no cards in your hand. Do you really think you can beat me like that?''

Fujimaru didn't reply at first. Everyone looked at him sadly, knowing that he was one of the best duelists at the school, and probably the smartest one. They've always hoped that he'll be the one that would defeat Mark, but some of their eyes had lost hope by now. But that feeling of lost hope went away as Fujimaru raised his head, holding a huge smile on his face.

''Mark,'' he started, ''your monster only has 1700 ATK. The base attack for a level 4 monster is 1800. You know what that means, right?''

''Base attack for level 4?'' Mark asked in a tone that tried to make Fujimaru scared but couldn't hide the fear in his voice. ''Stop talking smarty pants crap and act!''

Fujimaru drew, and then he looked back at Mark.

**Fujimaru:**_4700 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_0_** - ****Mark:**_5800 _**/ **_1 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''You'll see what I mean. I summon my Dimensional Alchemist in attack mode!''

A machine-like magician was summoned into the clear field, holding a magical ball in its hands. (1300/200/4/Fairy/LIGHT)

''Bah, another copy of the monster you sent to the grave with reasoning?'' He laughed. ''He has 1300 attack points! That's not 1800, you stupid Asian!'' Relief could be seen on Mark's face, but it was gone as soon as he saw that the Fujimaru was still holding that tricky smirk.

''No, it doesn't…'' He stated, ''yet. I activate its special ability! By removing from play the top card in my deck from play, I can increase its attack points by 500 until the end of this turn!''

''Wait, then that means…''

''Exactly, now my monster will then be stronger than yours!'' Fujimaru said with a smile of completion. ''Now, to remove the top card in my deck from play… Oh, it's Guardian of Order. But my monster still gains 500 ATK.'' (1800/200/4/Fairy/LIGHT)

''Guardian of Order?'' In his desperation, Mark couldn't do anything but try to insult Fujimaru. ''I've heard about it. It's your ace card, and you've just removed it from play, loser!''

''Actually…'' Fujimaru looked at the three cards he had removed from play, ''this is better than what I expected. I can finish you off right here and right now.''

''Say what!'' Mark sounded scared.

''What you just heard! I activate the trap card Return from a Different Dimension! By paying half my life points, I can special summon as many of my monsters that have been removed from play as I want!''

''That can't be…''

''Sorry, but it can. I revive my Shinning Angel, Dimensional Alchemist, and Guardian of Order!'' (Respectively):

(1400/1100/4/Fairy/LIGHT)

(1300/200/4/Fairy/LIGHT)

(2500/1200/8/Warrior/LIGHT)

The three Light creatures appeared from a dimensional hole that had just opened in the sky. Guardian of Order was a huge warrior with a shiny armor, made of white metal and gold. The armor had four wings, two upwards and two downwards, the upper ones being bigger than the lower ones

''Now I activate my other alchemist's special ability, so it gains 500 ATK!'' (1800/200/4/Fairy/LIGHT)

''Dimensional Alchemist, crush his Twin-Headed Beast!''

The flaming monster was sucked into a huge ball that the Alchemist had just created, and there it got destroyed.

**Fujimaru:**_4700 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_0_** - ****Mark:**_5700 _**/ **_1 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''Now, I attack directly with my Shinning Angel!''

The angel flew up high in the sky, and then it flopped its wings majestically towards Mark, making a wave of feathers that stroke him

**Fujimaru:**_4700 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_0_** - ****Mark:**_4300_**/ **_1 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''Dimensional Alchemist, direct attack!'' Fujimaru commanded again.

The alchemist made a huge black ball that surrounded Mark, and it exploded, making his life points go down to the last 2500.

**Fujimaru:**_4700 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_0_** - ****Mark:**_2500_**/ **_1 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''And, to end this,'' Fujimaru stated imperiously, ''Guardian of Order, attack with Supreme Light Command!''

The Guardian elevated up high, with the sun on its back, to come down with a shinning ray reducing Mark's life points to 0.

**Fujimaru:**_4700 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_0_** - ****Mark:**_0000_

Mark was now standing on one knee, hurt after the Guardian's direct attack. Fujimaru took his cell phone out, pressed some buttons, and then put it back in his pocket. Then, he approached Mark, but, before he could speak a word, Mark said:

''You were lucky.''

''Even if I was, that doesn't change the fact that I just beat you.'' Fujimaru said sharply. ''And at least I had mercy. Your life point touched 0 exactly, while you made me suffer that time we met.''

Mark looked at him with anger, and then he looked at his watch. ''Well, that effort was for nothing. You've got eight minutes to defeat my other friends. If not, I can't give you the cards.''

''Did you forget the fact that I have four amazing friends?''

Mark's expression turned pale. ''No way…'' he muttered.

Fujimaru smiled. ''It's over, Mark!''

No one said anything, and then, for no apparent reason, Mark started laughing. ''Do you really think your stupid friends will be as lucky as you? I don't think so, stupid!''

Fujimaru looked at him coldly, his eyes covered by the light reflecting on his glasses. ''They are my friends. I have faith in them.''

A dragon roared as Mara drew. She looked at her cards, and then at her field, which had Naturia Hydrangea, with 1900 ATK and a face down card. Normally, that would be enough, but her opponent had an even better field: Two powerful Harpie Ladies and her Baby Pet Dragon. The Dragon was far more powerful than what its name implied: It had 2400 ATK and a bunch of powerful especial abilities.

**Mara:**_7800 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 3 _**/ **_1_** -Naturia Forest- ****Shannon:**_3200 _**/ **_1 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 3_

**A/N: Remember one of Mara's traps is a face-up useless Revival Gift, and the other one is a face-up Naturia Forest. Shannon's is Hysteric Party.**

''I…''

''What, you don't know what to do now?'' Shannon laughed. ''Why don't you summon yet another of those weak ladybugs?''

Mara stared at her hand for some time, and then she checked her face down card. She looked up to Shannon, who could now see a confident look in her eyes. ''Good idea.'' She replied. ''Appear now, Naturia Ladybug!''

The third Ladybug ran to a leaf, and stayed there calmly. (ATK: 100)

''Seriously?'' Shannon asked. ''Come on, if you want to lose, just surrender.''

''Sure.''

That answer took Shannon by surprise. ''Uh… Then… ok. I win?''

''I never said I surrendered.'' Mara stated.

''But you just…'' Shannon was as confused as the people watching the duel.

''I just said 'sure' to the fact that I'll surrender if I want to lose. But I don't, so I'm going to keep playing.'' She finished the phrase with a warm smile, like if she had been best friends with Shannon her whole life. ''Anyways, I'll now activate my trap card, limit reverse. This will let me revive a monster with 1000 ATK or less from my graveyard in attack position.''

''In attack?'' Shannon couldn't believe it. ''1000 ATK or less? Are you out of your mind?''

''No, but I'm out of options, so I need to do this.'' Mara answered. ''I now revive my Naturia Butterfly.''

''So what are you going to do with that butte-'' Shannon then realized what Mara was doing. ''Oh, no… You are not doing THAT, right?

''It depends on what THAT is.''

''I mean another synchro summon!''

''Oh, THAT.'' Mara laughed softly. ''Yes. I tune my level 3 tuner monster, Naturia Butterfly, with my non-tuner monsters, my level 5 Naturia Hydrangea and my level 1 Naturia Ladybug.''

Six stars now made a path within three rings as Mara chanted. ''Animal, Plants, and all living beings, turn into the roar that will give peace to nature!'' A bright light was made within the three rings. ''Rule all natural beings, Naturia Leodrake!''

A humongous lion appeared galloping through the forest. It had red flower petals instead of a mane and green plants covering its fur. When it reached Mara's field, it stopped roared and galloped through the forest, finally reaching Mara's field. (3000/1800/9/Beast/EARTH)

''Now my Naturia Ladybugs have their effects activated,'' Mara said, ''so I summon the three of them, and then I sacrifice them to give 3000 more attack points to my Leodrake.'' (ATK: 6000)

''6000 ATK?'' Shannon shouted alarmed. ''That's insane! There is no possible I can beat that!''

''Don't worry Shannon, you know that effect wears off at the end of the turn. Wait, now that I think of it…'' She started to count with her fingers. ''Oops, I'm sorry Shannon, but… Following my calculations there'll be no next turn for you. I attack with my Naturia Leodrake to your Harpie's Pet Dragon and that… will end the duel. Go, Naturia Mighty Roar!''

The Lion roared one last time as it jumped towards the dragon, which seemed insignificant compared to it. It was automatically destroyed once Naturia Leodrake landed on top of it.

**Mara:**_7800 _**/ **0**/**_ 3 _**/ **_1_** -Naturia Forest- ****Shannon:**_0000_

When the holograms were gone, Mara moved where Shannon was, tending her hand to get up. Shannon rejected it, and she started running away from the park. Mara looked down and sat in the ground, worried about the fact that she just hurt Shannon. That was fixed by Ashley, who came and patted her in the back, saying:

''Good job Mara. That's how you duel.''

Mara smiled back. ''Thank you. I hope Sean is ok though.''

''Sean? What about Fujimaru?''

Mara blushed. ''Well… We all know Fujimaru is a great duelist and all that…'' Her tone was even softer than usual.

Ashley looked gloomily at the ground. She was about to ask Mara about her feelings towards Sean, when she thought,

_Wait, why do I care about it? They've known each other for a lot, so…_ She then shook her head, took out her cell phone, and started texting Rob about their victory

''Now, why don't you draw a card and leave yourself with just two in your deck?'' Peter said trying to make Sean even angrier.

Sean drew a card and then looked at it.

**Sean:**_7300_**/ **_3 _**/**_ 2 _**/ **_2_** - ****Peter:**_2550 _**/ **_0 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 5_

He couldn't believe his luck. Of all cards he could have drawn this was definitely one of the best, as he had just put it on his deck for this duel. ''Alright,'' he put the card with the other ones in his hand and then picked another one, saying, ''I'll show you what I can do! First my Wave-Motion Cannon gains a counter! Then, I'll sacrifice both my solar Flame Dragon and my Fire Fox in order to summon Infernal Flame Emperor!''

Sean had just summoned a monster made out of fire, with the lower part of its body being like a horse, the upper part like a human with a lion face, and wings in the back of the horse part. (2700/1600/9/Pyro/FIRE)

_Tsk, it may be big, but it won't go through my Sakuretsu Armor. _Peter thought

''Its looks aren't the only cool thing about it!'' Sean stated with excitement. ''It also has an awesome special ability, which lets me remove from play up to 5 FIRE attribute monsters to destroy the same number of spell and traps on the field. I remove two of my Solar Flame Dragons and two of my Blazing Inpachis to destroy your two Poison Chains, your Mist Body equip spell card, and your face-down card!''

Peter looked at his cards scared as they were burnt up in flames. ''Crap!''

''My revenge isn't over yet!'' Sean shouted, picking up the card he had just drawn. ''I still have in my hand the card my friends gave me. I activate Warrior Elimination!''

The three Warrior-type monsters in Peter's field, the two Iron Chain Repairmen and the Iron Chain Blaster were shot by an invisible sniper, so they got destroyed, leaving Peter with no other cards other than his Iron Chain Snake and Iron Chain Coil.

''Wait, that's cheating!'' Peter yelled. ''You knew what kind of deck I play so you put that card!''

''I can't see where that is called cheating.'' Sean said. ''My friends and I just want you guys to return those cards you stole, so…''

''Wait, Sean, you aren't suppose to say anything!'' Rob warned him.

''It doesn't matter, Rob, now that duel has started, he has to surrender if he wants to leave.'' Sean reminded him with a confident voice.

''Oh that's tr-'' Rob stopped talking as soon as he heard his phone beep. He took it out of his pocket and read the text he had just received. ''Good news, Mara won.''

''Really? That's awesome!'' exclaimed Sean.

''I know, but pay attention to the duel!'' Rob warned him.

''Oh yeah, back to the duel…''

''Boring…'' Peter said. ''Do you have anything else?''

''Yes I do!'' Sean assured happily. ''I equip my Infernal Flame Emperor with Big Bang Shot! Now, even if it attacks a monster in Defense mode, I'll still inflict you damage equal to the difference between my monster's ATK and your monster's DEF.''

''We call that piercing damage, you moron!'' Peter said trying to sound smart.

''Oh, whatever;'' Sean didn't care anyways, ''Infernal Flame Emperor, destroy his Iron Chain Snake with Hell's Flame Burst!''

The lion roared as fire from its body for shot in cylinders towards the snake, leaving ashes where the monster had previously been.

**Sean:**_7300_**/ **_1 _**/**_ 3 _**/ **_1_** - ****Peter:**_1050 _**/ **_0 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

**A/N: Sean's spells and traps are the face-up Backfire, Fairy Meteor Crush, and Wave-Motion Cannon**

''That ends my turn. But I think I win. You've got no cards in your hand, and, even if you destroy my Emperor, I'll still have my Wave-Motion Cannon, and vice versa. You can't destroy both cards with one, the one you are going to draw. I think you can surrender now , that wa-''

''Sean, Fujimaru just won!'' yelled Rob looking at his cell phone. ''We've got this!''

''Oh yeah!'' exclaimed Sean. ''I may have two cards in my deck, but this is over Peter, surrender.''

Peter looked at his deck with apprehension. Nothing there could save him now, and he knew it. But he didn't feel like surrendering to a loser like Sean, so he drew a card.

''Wait, this…'' Peter looked at the card. ''This might help. I activate the Warrior Returning Alive, so I can take one warrior type monster from my graveyard and add it to my hand! I take back my Iron Chain Repairman and then summon it!''

The repairman appeared again next to the Coil.

''Next, I activate its effect, so I summon Iron Chain Snake from my Graveyard!''

''Dude, that's no use. Now you can't attack with your Iron Chain Repairman due to its effect, remember?''

Peter stared at his cards, doing calculations with his fingers. Then, he looked at Sean surprised and said: ''Darn, you're right.''

Sean smiled, and he looked at Rob, who was pale.

''Hey Rob, what's up?'' Asked Sean worried about him.

''Dude… Remember those monsters Mara and I use?'' Rob sounded scared. ''The ones that are pretty new and were made because of wave radiation…''

''You mean…'' Sean then realized what Rob meant and turned pale as well, ''no… It can't be.''

Sean looked at Peter and saw he was smiling. ''Oh,'' He said, ''I can't beat you with my monsters. And I have no cards in my hand. But the thing is that Iron Chain Coil was one of those cards that could control that radiation thing.''

''Human radiation into the Duel Monsters world.'' Corrected him Rob. ''It made a new special type of monsters that could only be summoned by having your monsters tune up to the exact same frequency they were in. And only a few monsters could tune the others into that level. Those monsters are known as…''

''Tuner monsters!'' Finished Peter with a smile. ''I tune my level 3 Tuner monster, Iron Chain Coil, with my level three non-tuner monster, Iron Chain Snake!''

The crowd started to whisper as soon as the monsters turned into three rings and three stars, making a bright light as Peter said:

''Uh… The chains of something… wait, I forgot… oh yeah! Chains of despair will transport the foe into a place without escape, turn into the force that will lock the whole world! Synchro Summon, show yourself, Iron Chain Dragon!

A legless blue dragon exhaling vapor by its moth was summoned from the bright light created within the rings. It had two horns like a deer, and Iron Chains were tied at its snake-like torso and wings. (2500/1300/6/Dragon/EARTH)

Sean was scared, even though he didn't even know why. That monster had 2500 ATK. Even if it could destroy his monster, he still had his cannon. And he knew Iron Chain monsters didn't destroy magic and trap cards. He had talked that over with Fujimaru.

''You seem a little scared for not having seen its special ability yet, Sean.'' Peter said imperiously. ''You see, I can remove from play all Iron Chain monsters from my graveyard and my monster will gain 200 ATK points for every monster I removed from play. Go, Chain Gain!''

The Iron Chains Coil, Repairman, Blaster and Snake came out from the graveyard in form of chain links, and then they wrapped the Iron Chain Dragon, making its Attack Points raise. (3300/1300/6/Dragon/EARTH)

Sean sighed of relief. ''I thought it was going to destroy all my life points…''

Peter smiled. ''Dude, it's not your life points I'm aiming for. It's your deck! Iron Chain Dragon, attack his Infernal Flame Emperor!''

The dragon slammed the emperor with its body, making all chains in it hit the opponent monster very hard, destroying it.

''No, my emperor!'' Sean yelled. He knew he had won anyway, as Wave-Motion Cannon was still in play, but the Infernal Flame Emperor was his ace card, so it was sad to see it be destroyed. It reminded him of how Evil Hero Dark Gaia had always beaten him.

**Sean:**_6700_**/ **_1 _**/**_ 2 _**/ **_0_** - ****Peter:**_1050 _**/ **_0 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 2_

''That's not all, Sean.'' Peter stated. ''Whenever my Iron Chain Dragon inflicts battle damage, you send the top three cards from your deck to the graveyard!''

''But I only have two!'' Sean couldn't believe it as he ditched all cards he had in his deck into the graveyard. ''That means…''

''Exactly. I end my turn, and, before you activate your cannon's ability, you have to draw a card, but… you've got none.''

''So… I lose.'' Sean fell to his knees, with a gloomy expression on his face. His duel disk now said:

**Sean:**_Deck Out_** - ****Peter:**_1050 _**/ **_0 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 2_

No one said a word. The crowd retired silently as Rob moved where Sean was, but before that Peter took Sean's best card, the Infernal Flame Emperor.

''Sean, let's go.'' Told him Rob. ''Fujimaru is waiting for us.''

''Rob…'' Sean raised his face and looked at his friend directly. ''I can't. I can't see the rest like this. We've been working on this plan for weeks, and I've screwed it all up.''

''Screwed it all up? Come on, not even I could have faced that powerful Dragon!''

''You don't have to lie for me.'' Sean got up and turned. ''I… I need to be alone now.''

Rob looked at him walk away and said, ''Alright. I'll tell the others about it. But it's not your fault. That could have happened to any of us.''

Another person said, ''Of course that could have happened to any of you guys. You're all losers anyways.'' Rob and Sean turned around when they heard that, and they saw John standing were the crowd had been. Rob looked at him madly and said:

''Hey, just because you are a regional champion doesn't mean you can insult other people. Plus, you're a grade younger than me anyways.''

''I'm not talking to you, idiot.'' He said in a disrespectful tone. ''I'm talking to Sean.''

They stared at each other, and then Sean replied. ''Just because we used to be friends doesn't mean I am going to listen to you. You ditched me to become the champion.''

Rob looked at Sean surprised. He had never heard of that before. Now that he thought of it, Sean, Mara and Fujimaru became friends with him and Ashley at the begging of the year, so he didn't know much about their pasts.

John then said: ''It was the only way, Sean. I wanted to become better than everyone else. And here I am, standing at the top, while you look at me from the bottom. You'll never beat me, and you know it. I have given up everything for Duel Monsters, yet you still have your friends holding you back.''

Sean closed his fist and looked down at the ground, almost ready to cry

'_He's right.' _He thought_. 'If I can't even beat a chubby bully for a honorable purpose, how am I suppose to beat him just to show him that he shouldn't have left me alone? I am the Worst Duelist Ever'_

Without replying, Sean ran away. Rob then gave John a mean look, and went to Fujimaru's house, where he told everyone what had happened.

''But… where is Sean?'' Fujimaru asked worried.

''I dunno.'' Rob responded. ''He just said he needed some time alone.''

''Oh no…'' Mara was on the verge of crying; this was too much for her soft heart. ''Sean…''

The room got silent, with melancholy being as abundant as the air on the room. Then, Ashley got up and said:

''Hey, we should get up and do something!''

Mara and Rob stared at her surprised, while Fujimaru gave them a look like 'It's no time for that now.'

''You see,'' see continued, ''Sean is our friend. And he's out there, somewhere, alone. We need to find him and tell him that we don't blame him for what happened in any way, shape, or form.''

''That's how you should talk!'' Ashley exclaimed.

Mara got up and took some tears of her eyes. ''I'm with you.''

''Same here.'' Rob agreed.

''Alright.'' Said Fujimaru. ''Sounds like a good plan. Just scatter through the town and text the rest when you find him, ok? We'll stop looking for him at 7 P.M. It's 5 now, so that gives us some time. Plus, tomorrow is Saturday, so… Let's go!''

The friends cheered as they went out of the room in order to look for their lost mate.

Later on during that Friday, Sean found himself lost in the woods outside of the town. He walked for several minutes, but he couldn't find the way back. His orientation sense had always sucked. He was about to give up when he heard people talking pretty loud. He ran towards the sound, and found a wooden house, very rustic looking. Now he could distinguish what the people were saying, things like ''No, this card is not to the right one'' or ''That will work if you do this first.''

Sean approached the house and called. Then, the door opened, and John couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing. Right in front of him was standing Solomon Muto, the archeologist who had found so many rare cards and was the grandfather of the King of Games, Yugi Muto.

**And here's Solomon! The good thing starts now…**


	4. Chapter 4

**As I promised, here are the anime characters! Yay! And this story has a plot other than beating bullies? Awesome! Haha I hope you like this. Oh I keep the dubbed names (darn 4kids xD)**

**Forbidden and Limited List: Advanced Format March 2010**

**Chapter 4 – The Duel Monsters' Punishments**

''Hum… My name is Sean…'' He didn't know what to say, in front of Solomon, Yugi's grandfather. Then he remembered the fact that he was lost in a place he didn't know much about. ''I was wandering alone here and got lost, could you please show me the way back?''

Solomon stared at him for a moment, and then said, ''Sure, but come on in first. You seem kind of sad and tired.''

''Sad?'' Sean realized that he hadn't even tried to hide the fact that he had just lost a duel that cost his friends a lot of wasted effort. ''It's just… I've disappointed people who were important to me. Not only that, but… I'll never be as good as someone I know as dueling, even though I've put a lot more effort than him, I'm sure of that…''

''Oh, never say that.'' Solomon said. ''If he's better than you, I bet it's because he's spend more time than you at it, or he has sacrificed more than you to get to that point.''

Sean got quiet, and thought about it. Back when they were kids, John's father had given him a special set of cards, which he used to beat another duelist, and a dueling manager saw him, so he wanted to take John and make him a champion. John had to give up on his friends as he never had free time. But turning dark and losing your friends like that… It wasn't the right way.

''Well… He did lose a lot more than me, but… He only believes in his own power and the might of his cards. On the other hand, I'm like the worst duelist in the world'' Sean said gloomily.

''Hum…'' Solomon stared at him deeply. ''You know what I think? If you are the worst duelist, then you need the best training. Follow me.''

Solomon Muto went across the big room that was at the entrance and opened anther one at the other end of the room. There was a big garden, with a dueling field on the middle, but that wasn't what surprised Sean the most. What made Sean think he was the luckiest guy ever was the people dueling there: Yugi Muto, Seto Kaiba, and Joey Wheeler, the best three duelists in the whole world. When the door was opened, only Yugi turned around; the other two were dueling. Four years after the infamous duel against his alter ego, Atem, he looked exactly like him. When he saw his grandfather, Yugi asked with the same voice Atem used to have, ''Isn't it too soon for dinner, Grandpa?''

''It's not dinner time yet. I've just brought someone I want to train by myself here today, so you're all going to have to take instant ramen for dinner.''

Kaiba looked at him, saying, ''You guys can eat whatever you want, I'm leaving in an hour anyway. I'm just here to train, not to hang out and have a good time when the biggest tournament ever is going to take place soon.''

''Hey Kaiba, if you wanna train, then pay attention to the duel!'' Joey yelled. ''I activate ancient rules, which let me special summon my Red-Eyes Black Dragon from my hand!''

Before he could even put the card in his duel disk, Yugi said:

''No Joey! That's not the way! You're wasting two cards in your hand, and you know people at that tournament will easily take out your Red-Eyes Black Dragon!''

''Then how am I suppose to summon it? Your Gramps gave me so many support cards for it that I don't want to take it off my deck.''

''You send it to the graveyard first.'' Replied Yugi

Kaiba drew a card from his deck, saying, ''Yeah Wheeler, watch this! I activate Trade-In, so I discard my Blue-Eyes White Dragon to draw two cards.''

''That's just stupid Kaiba.'' Joey said bluntly. ''You still have the same number of cards in your hand. You used a spell and then discarded a monster, a total of two cards, just to draw two other cards!''

Kaiba sighed. ''Wheeler… I just sent my Blue-Eyes White Dragon to the graveyard without losing any cards in my hand. That means I can now revive it with my spell card, Silent Doom!''

''Hey Kaiba.'' called him Yugi. ''You could use this card better.'' He threw him a spell card. Seto looked at it.

''Swing of Memories? What kind of dolly kindergartner technique are you trying to make me use?''

''Kaiba, don't underestimate cards just by their looks.'' Yugi warned him.

''Well, since my Blue-Eyes would be destroyed…''

''But remember, there is that Non-Spellcasting Area card in your deck, which makes normal monster unaffected by spell cards''

Seto stopped and thought for a moment. ''I'll consider it. But don't let that go to your head, Yugi.''

''Good.'' Said Yugi. He then turned around and look at his grandfather and Sean. ''What are you guys waiting for? Aren't you going to train?''

''Oh, that kid wants training?'' Joey approached them. ''If you want, you can use this card. But give it back to me, alright?''

Sean looked at the card he had just received from Joey. This couldn't be real. He was going to train with the best duelists in the whole world. Solomon Muto forced him out of his thoughts.

''Hey kid, you'll also need a new deck.''

''I've got one already, thank you.''

''What kind is it?''

''It's a FIRE burn deck…''

Solomon thought for a moment, and then he went to the house to come back in a few seconds with a box. He opened it, and it was full of FIRE and FIRE support cards.

''Wow, this is awesome…'' said Sean amazed by the cards, ''I could beat anyone with this cards.''

Solomon took a stick from the door and hit him in the head with it.

''Ouch!'' Sean yelled. ''That hurt!''

''Of course that hurt, kid! That's what I was aiming for.'' Solomon exclaimed. ''Cards are not great by themselves. The monsters are, but the cards only contain a part of the spirit of the monster. To make that card great, YOU need to be great.''

''Ok, ok. Now, what's the training gonna be about?''

''Well, some theoretical stuff about the game, like damage step cards, Spell Speeds, Nomi, Semi-Nomi, Synchro materials…''

''Ok, but what will our first training be?'' Sean asked.

''Well… we're gonna do a quick 4000 life points duel.'' He said taking out his duel disk. ''We have a lot of types of strategies to cover, so let's make it quick.''

''Uh…'' Sean took out his own duel-disk. ''Alright, here I come!''

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **_5 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****Solomon:**_4000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

Sean looked at his hand. ''Uh, I'd like to go second with this hand if you don't mind…''

''No!'' Solomon yelled. ''You should always try to go first no matter what. Do you know what card and handadvantage is?''

''Well… Advantage over your opponent with your hand?''

Solomon sighed. ''More or less. It' basically having more cards than your opponent in your hand and field, giving you an advantage over him. If you start, you'll have one more card than your opponent.''

''But then my opponent will draw a card during his turn.'' Sean pointed out.

''Yes, but then they won't have advantage. Then, during your turn, you'll draw a card, and you'll have the advantage. That's why you should always be first.''

Sean looked at his hand. ''So is that what hand advantage is all about?''

''No, kid. Hand advantage leads to field advantage, but you need to be careful not to waste all cards in your hand. Just go ahead and play.''

''Alright, I put three face-down cards and summon Solar Flame Dragon, which will inflict 500 points of damage to you during the end phase.''

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 3 _**/ **_1_** - ****Solomon:**_3500 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''See?'' Sean asked. ''So much for your so called 'hand advantage', I'm winning now.''

''This kids of now days…'' Solomon muttered as he drew a card.

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 3 _**/ **_1_** - ****Solomon:**_3500 _**/ **_6 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''First mistake, you put three face-down cards. That's too many.''

''What? But the limit is five, plus they are all traps, they would do no good in my hand.''

''Kid… This is what hand advantage is all about. I activate the powerful spell card heavy storm, which destroys all spells and traps on the field.'' The three face-down cards Sean had were destroyed by the spell Solomon had just played. ''Now, do the math. I've used one card, Heavy Storm, to destroy three of your cards. In a pro match, that would give me such advantage that some people would just surrender. Of course, in a pro match, no one would put three face-downs without something to protect them. You need to learn.''

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_1_** - ****Solomon:**_3500 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

Sean looked at his life points and then he looked at Solomon's life points. ''But… I'm still winning.''

''For the Lord's sake, kid, it doesn't matter if you are winning by life points now! What matter is who wins the duel. It doesn't matter if, during the duel, you were the one with more life points, at the end what matters is who's life points hit 0. And I'm going to show you that by summoning Phantom Beast Wild Horn to the field.''

A two-legged moose with red clothing covering its hips, shoulders, and arms came to the field holding a vicious-looking sword. (1700/0/4/Beast-Warrior/EARTH)

''Next, Sean, I'll teach you something new. It's called graveyard advantage.''

''Graveyard advantage?'' Sean didn't see how the graveyard could serve as an advantage.

''Well, the more cards you have in the graveyard,'' Solomon started to state, ''the more advantage you have, as cards are much easier to retrieve from the graveyard, and some cards work in the graveyard, while other cards work with cards in the graveyard. You also need to know that graveyard advantage sometimes helps hand advantage, as you previously saw from Joey. He tried to summon Red-Eyes from his hand using two cards, the spell to summon it and red-eyes itself. But then Kaiba told his technique about sending his blue-eyes for the cost of a spell to draw two cards, the same two he had lost using his spell and discarding his blue-eyes. That way he had the exact same cards in his hand, but he now had a Blue-Eyes in his graveyard, and he had made his deck thinner.''

Sean thought about what Solomon had just told him, and then the image of he not being able to draw a card and losing came to his head. ''But… wouldn't making your deck thinner be worse? I mean, if you don't have any more cards in your deck, you lose.''

''Sean, if you have a lot of cards in your graveyard, you'll usually win before you run out of cards, trust me. Deck milling your opponent is a flaw that a lot of young duelists make. For example, see the cards that are now spread at you right.''

Sean looked. There were cards all over the floor, which Yugi and the others had probably been testing. At his right, he saw cards that worked with his graveyard: Monster Reincarnation, Call of the Haunted, and even some FIRE support cards, like a card that looked pretty cool and could only be special summon by removing from play a FIRE monster, called Inferno.

''Oh…'' Sean said, ''I see.''

''Good thing that you do, because now I can activate one of Joey's favorite cards, foolish burial. This lets me send one monster from my deck to my graveyard. You see, I just gave up on a card in my hand to send one monster to my graveyard. Hand advantage for graveyard advantage.''

''That makes sense.''

''I hope it does, because a lot of skilled players will use a lot of graveyard advantage. For example, my grandson likes to gain graveyard advantage with card destruction and his Archfiend of Gilferd, even thought he is working in a more sophisticated technique now. Anyways, back on the duel, I send Phantom Beast Cross Wing to my graveyard, which makes all my Phantom beast gain 300 attack points.

Two wings appeared on the back of Wild Horn, making it stronger. (2000/0/4/Beast-Warrior/EARTH)

''Now I attack with my Phantom Beast Wild Horn to your Solar Flare Dragon.'' Solomon said.

The beast slashed the dragon in two with its sword, making the expansive wave hit Sean life points.

**Sean:**_3500_**/ **_2 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****Solomon:**_3500 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''Now we're even in life points Sean.'' Solomon pointed out. ''But there is one big difference: I have a 2000 attack point monster in my side of the field, while you don't have any.''

''It doesn't matter.'' Sean said drawing a card.

**Sean:**_3500_**/ **_3 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****Solomon:**_3500 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''As you would say, now I have three cards in my hand while you have four in total, but the field will change quickly.''

Solomon scratched his beard. ''Not bad kid…. You're getting better. But remember, I still have my Cross Wing in my graveyard, and 2000 ATK isn't something you'll beat without giving up one of your cards.''

''You're right Mr. Muto, so I give up my Fissure card to destroy your monster!''

A hole opened below the Phantom Beast and two hands appeared from it, gulping the monster into the underground.

''Next I'll summon my Blazing Inpachi (ATK: 1850) who will attack you directly!''

A flame shot out of one of the Inpachi's hands, hitting Solomon and making him bend.

**Sean:**_3500_**/ **_1 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_1_** - ****Solomon:**_1750 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''How's that for advantage?'' Sean asked. ''I have a monster and more life points!''

''Sean…'' Solomon said as he drew. ''What do you think hand advantage is for?''

''Uh… for… winning?''

''Well, the thing is that the more cards in hand you have the more possibilities of counter striking you have. But I won't do that right now, I'll just put a face-down monster and end my turn.''

''Ok,'' Sean drew a card and then said,

**Sean:**_3500_**/ **_2 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_1_** - ****Solomon:**_1750 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''I summon UFO Turtle in attack mode!''

A turtle with a UFO on its back was summoned on the field. (1400/1100/4Machine/FIRE)

''I attack with Blazing Inpachi to your face-down monster!'' Sean said.

''Good job'' Solomon said proudly.

''Huh? Why do you say that?''

Slomon sighed, ''If you attack with the weaker one, if my monster has a flip effect that would destroy another monster, then I would target your stronger monster, so you did good attacking with the strong one.''

''Wouldn't you destroy my stronger monster anyways?''

''Well, I would have a dilemma, because if you have attacked already with your stronger monster, destroying it would leave me open for an attack with the weaker monster.''

''Oh, I see.''

''Well, there is also another reason why you should attack with the strongest monster. That reason is basic: High DEF. Be flipped, Phantom Beast Thunder Pegasus!''

A two-headed horse with the left part of his body red and the right part black was flipped face-up, having electrical tail and wings. (700/2000/4/Beast-Warrior/LIGHT) The flames the Inpachi had thrown were reflected right back at Sean, burning him

**Sean:**_3350_**/**_1 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_2_** - ****Solomon:**_1750 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''Ouch.'' He whined while getting up. ''Why do holograms hurt! I wonder who designed these…''

''Don't be a fool Sean. They hurt because they aren't just holograms, they are actual spirit of actual monsters. The duel-disk just 'reads' those spirits. The more damage you receive, the more it hurts. This is why some people have what it's called shadow games… Well I'd better stop talking now.''

Sean looked at him with incredulity and then said, ''Ok then… I'll end my turn.''

''And I draw.'' Solomon Replied

**Sean:**_1250_**/**_1 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_1_** - ****Solomon:**_1750 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''I sacrifice my Thunder Pegasus to summon Phantom Beast Rock Lizard.''

A four legged monster with a human torso coming out of its horse lower body appeared on the field roaring, its face shape like a lizard and its red body covered in a armor made of rocks, leaving some parts uncovered. Part of its tail as also covered in rocks, and there were a bundle of stones at the back of the horse body.

(2200/2000/7/Beast-Warrior/DARK) (2500/2000/7/Beast-Warrior/DARK)

Solomon looked at its creature proudly and then said: ''My Phantom Beast may be a level 7 monster, but it can be summoned without a tribute by sacrificing a Phantom Beast or a Gazelle, the King of Mythical Beasts. Plus, it gains a boost thanks to the Phantom Beast Cross Wing in my graveyard and the equip spell card I now activate, Fighting Spirit, which will increase its ATK by 300 for every monster you control and defend my monster from being destroyed by battle once.''

(2500/2000/7/Beast-Warrior/DARK) (3100/2000/7/Beast-Warrior/DARK)

''Wow, that's heavy.'' Commented John.

''If you think that's heavy wait, until you see its effects! Phantom Beast Rock Lizard, attack his UFO Turtle with Mythical Stone Crush!''

The Rock Lizard moved quickly towards the Crater and, before it had a chance to do anything, it got destroyed under lizard's mighty fist.

**Sean:**_1250_**/**_1 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_1_** - ****Solomon:**_1750 _**/ **_2 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 1_

''When my Phantom Beast destroys a monster by battle,'' Solomon said, ''You get 500 more points of damage to your life points.''

Sean looked up at Solomon. ''More damage!''

Stones got shot from the back of the Rock Lizard directly at Sean, hitting him.

**Sean:**_750_**/**_1 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_1_** - ****Solomon:**_1750 _**/ **_2 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 1_

''Oh, stop whining. Didn't it hurt this much when you lost your other match?''

''Not really.'' Sean said standing up after receiving the hit of the rocks. ''That guy milled my deck out, so it didn't hurt. But as you've destroyed my UFO Turtle, I can special summon a FIRE monster with 1500 ATK or less from my deck, like my Ultimate Baseball Kid!''

A little boy with flames in his eyes and a red baseball uniform appeared on the field, holding a dangerous bat in his hand. (500/100/4/Warrior/FIRE) (1500/100/4/Warrior/FIRE)

''As you can see, it gains 1000 attack points for every other FIRE attribute monster on my side of the field.''

''Hum…'' Solomon murmured, ''I can see great combos with that card… But I'll just end my turn now.''

''Alright, I draw.''

**Sean:**_750_**/**_2 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **2** - ****Solomon:**_1750 _**/ **_2 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 1_

Sean looked at the card he had just drawn and smirked. ''First I activate De-Spell, which lets me destroy your face-up equip spell card!''

The spirit that was surrounding the Rock Lizard got destroyed by the de-spell (3100/2000/7/Beast-Warrior/DARK) (2500/2000/7/Beast-Warrior/DARK)

''Now I'll summon the Great Angus in attack mode!'' An angry crimson beast with yellow eyes and full of scars came to the field breathing fire and burning everything on its way, its red eyes showing anger and madness. (1800/600/4/Beast/FIRE)

Then, the Ultimate Baseball Kid's attack strength started to go up.

(1500/100/4/Warrior/FIRE) (2500/100/4/Warrior/FIRE)

''And now that your Rock Lizard has been weakened, and my monster is been strengthen to its level, it's time to end the duel.''

At the other side of the training field, Yugi said: ''Hey, it's not like that, you're only supposed to say it's time to duel, not it's time to end the duel.''

Sean looked at him ashamed. ''Uh… Sorry.''

Yugi laughed loudly. ''I was just kidding,'' he said, ''play on!''

''Yeah!'' Sean said, filled with bravery. ''I attack with my Ultimate Baseball Kid to your Phantom Beast Rock Lizard!''

''It's no use kid, because I can remove from play my Phantom Beast Thunder Pegasus to negate any damage from this battle and protect my monster from being destroyed.''

The kid bat the Rock Lizard in the head, but a yellow veil protected it, and the Beast counter attacked, destroying it

''And now Phantom Beast Rock Lizard's effect activates, dealing you 500 damage.'' Solomon reminded him

**Sean:**_250 _**/**_0 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **2** - ****Solomon:**_1750 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''I guess it's my turn now.'' Solomon said. ''And it's time to end this. I attack your Inpachi with my Phantom Beast Rock Lizard.''

**Sean:**_0000_** - ****Solomon:**_1750 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

Sean fell to his knees. ''I lost again…'' He muttered, ''I'm worth nothing.''

Then a hand patted his back. Sean looked up and saw Yugi, smiling.

''You did really well there, don't worry. But remember, when dueling pros, have in mind what is in the graveyard. My grandfather may not seem like it, but he is one of those pros.''

''I heard that Yugi!'' Solomon yelled joking.

''Haha.'' Laughed Yugi calmly, just like Atem used to do. He looked at Sean and kept talking, ''Hey, at least you summoned a monster whose power was greater than the Red-Eyes Black Dragon. And you know why? Because that monster became more powerful as more monsters were out there with him, supporting him.''

Sean smiled. ''You know, me and my friend Mara always try to get monsters with high attack on the field, that way we know we'll be able to beat Evil Hero Dark Gaia!''

Solomon opened his eyes wide and turned at Sean. ''Did you just say Evil Hero Dark Gaia?''

''Uh… Yeah.'' Muttered Sean.

''Sean…'' Solomon sounded impressed. ''Who is this kid you were talking about earlier? Is that kid the one holding Gaia?''

Sean nodded. ''He used to be my best friend, until his dad came back from Paris. He had found great cards for him, and I suppose one of them was Evil Hero Dark Gaia. Their parents had a discussion, because they thought those evil cards would be a bad influence on their kids, and they divorced. The father, Fred, took John with him, while the mother, Cindy, took Mara with her. The new cards and the divorce changed John; he surrounded himself in a shell, and stopped talking to people. Before I knew it, he was considered a genius, and he became famous.''

Solomon scratched his beard. ''Well… that's interesting.''

''In fact, it is very interesting.'' An elderly voice said behind them.

All people in the garden looked at the door and saw Professor Arthur Hawkins, a friend of Solomon Muto.

''Welcome again, Arthur.'' Solomon greeted. ''Good to know you received my e-mail.''

Professor Hawkins laughed. ''It was hard, trust me. Computers don't like me. Anyways, who is this kid?'' He said pointing at Sean.

''It's kind of funny, I just found him today. I think he could be useful for us…''

''Me?'' He sounded confused. ''What?''

Solomon grinned at Arthur, who cleared his throat.

''Let me explain it you. A long time ago, in the duel monster world, there were three punishments for the duel monsters. They were made of fallen angels and dead demons, and they locked, destroyed and removed everything that used to be and ever was by controlling the souls of those who were a little bit off the path, or, in other words, those with some kind of depression. Then, when the Egyptians first found their way to communicate with the spirit world, that world called them for help. The Egyptians then asked their Gods to help that new world, and then Osiris sent Slifer, Ra sent his Winged Dragon, and Seth sent Obelisk. Together, they brought peace to the Duel Monsters world, and, in exchange, the duel monsters formed a tie with the human world thanks to the bonding of their seven kings to seven Egyptians. That way, when the monsters died, they served the Egyptians, who put their souls in rocks in order to make use of their powers. Later on, Maximillion Pegasus looked for those spirits and put them in cards. Not all spirits have been found, and not all of them have died, but the ones found are now used for dueling. Their machinery, magic, hues of attacks, and other things they did were turned into spells and traps.''

''Wow…'' He looked at his Ultimate Baseball Kid. ''So, this monster…''

''Exactly. It probably was a real monster back in the Spirit World. Then it died and Pegasus turned it into a card. Well, note how I've said that all spirits who have died have been turned into cards. That also includes… the spirit of the three punishments that once caused to world to almost become destroyed. In fact, those Spirits also made a pact with a human on Earth: One of the humans holding a King of the Duel Monster's World became corrupted forever, so they are now waiting for their return.''

Sean shacked, scared. ''But they were once stopped, right? I mean, the Egyptian Cards can defeat them again if it's necessary…''

Yugi was the one who talked now, ''Sean, last time they were stopped with the Three Egyptian God cards. They are now long gone with the Pharaoh.''

Sean gasped. ''But they are just cards, right? I mean, as long as they are not used or anything…''

Proffesor Hawkins took the word, ''It looks like they were thrown away in Paris, next to the Eiffel Tower, in the same place than the Evil Hero cards were found.''

Sean got up excitedly. ''Then John has them! We need to go get him now!''

''Not so fast Sean.'' Solomon stopped him. ''John's father, Fred, didn't find those cards alone. I happened to be with him when he did, and I had heard of the prophecy, so I decided to keep those cards and give the Evil Heroes to Fred.''

''Oh…'' Sean murmured, ''then where are they now?''

''How many duelists other than you do you see training here, Sean?''

Sean didn't even need to look around to realize it. ''Three… does that mean Yugi, Seto, and Joey each have one of those three powerful cards?''

Solomon nodded. ''They are the three best duelists in the world, and those cards cannot be taken by any means other than by winning a duel.''

Proffesor Hawkins cleared his throat. ''Yeah, in Ancient Egypt, every time you won, you could take a card from the opponent. Those ancient rules are still applied, and that way you can get a real 'ownership' of that card.''

Sean scratched his head, thinking. ''Then… why don't you give it to someone who's not a duelist?''

''Because in a shadow game you would be forced to duel, giving up all your cards and your soul if you lose. Not being able to duel would result in an automatic defeat.''

''Oh… So the plan is to keep them from losing?''

''What kind of plan is that!'' Kaiba yelled at the opposite side of the garden. ''I have made a tournament, called the Ultimate Championship, in which I'm sure the person who is looking for those cards will be there! Then I'll destroy him with my Blue-Eyes White Dragon!''

As he said that, he summoned his Blue-Eyes White Dragon, majestic looking, with its wings spread and roaring on the skies. (3000/2500/8/dragon/LIGHT)

Sean looked at Professor Hawkins. ''How would beating that person in a duel help?''

''Well, once he's beaten in duel, the spirit of the three monsters living in his heart would die, so he and the King he's holding would become uncorrupted.''

''Yeah, we need to get ready.'' Solomon said turning his Duel-Disk on again

''Wait, you didn't explain about me being useful for us…'' Sean asked.

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **_5 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****Solomon:**_4000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''I'll clarify that later, Sean, but now we have a lot of training to do. Powerful monsters you'll encounter, Sean, and you need to know how to beat them.''

''With the help of my friends, noth-'' Sean didn't finish the phrase, as recalling his friends summoned image of the Iron Chain Dragon into his head. He looked down melancholically, thinking of how he had disappointed them, and there he saw two cards that had slipped out of the box that Solomon had previously brought. They were both the same card. And that card was a synchro monster.


	5. Chapter 5

**I hope you are enjoying the story so far, but now I need to use Sean a little more, sorry about that. I hope you like Sean, Fujimaru, John, Ashley, Mara, and Rob, because they'll be a lot in this story, as much as-non original characters (maybe not as much as Yugi) **

**Forbidden and Limited List: Advanced Format March 2010**

**Chapter 5 – A Burning Comeback**

It was raining extremely hard Monday morning, and the rumors had spread through the whole school, whose students were all now in the hall. Sean had lost a duel, and he was nowhere to be found; he'd been lost since Friday afternoon. Fujimaru and the others had tried to find him, but their efforts had been in vain. The only people who seemed to enjoy the fact that Sean was missing were Mark, Shannon, and Peter. Every time Mark had the opportunity, he'd tell everyone something like:

''That's what you get when you mess with me.''

The only person who seemed like he didn't care was John. Right now he was walking down the hallway, followed by a group of fan girls who didn't care much about not being noticed by him. Fujimaru didn't even care to ask him about Sean; he knew John wouldn't say a word about it.

About half an hour before the classes started, the doors were opened. Everyone looked, as it would be extremely stupid for anyone to be outside at this moment with all the raining going on, and most of them started whispering to each other and gossiping like heck when they saw Sean, wearing a dark raincoat that made him look scary, entering the school. Fujimaru and the others got up and walked where he was, asking:

''Hey, where have you been? We were worried about you?''

Sean looked at them. His look wasn't the same as always; this one was deep and calm. ''This is no time for that, my friend. I'm sorry that you were worried, but I need to do something.'' He looked at Peter. ''Hey, you.''

''What, do you want to lose again?'' asked Peter, ''I think I'll pass, I don't feel like wasting my time with you.''

''Then how about this?'' Proposed Peter, ''you and Shannon against me, both at the same time. Then I'll duel Mark, and, if I win before school starts against you all, then Mark gives me all cards that he's stolen.''

''Alright,'' Agreed Peter, ''but, if we win, you give us… your whole deck.''

All people at school started whispering to each other, surprised at Peter's conditions. Only a fool would duel two people at the same time and bet his best 40 cards.

''I agree,'' Said Peter against all odds,

''But I challenged, so I'll go first.'' Sean implied.

''Awesome!'' Shannon exclaimed while getting up. ''Your whole deck will be ours in no time!''

''Duel!''

**Sean:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0_** /**_ 0_** - ****Shannon: **_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/**_ 0 _**/**0**&****Peter:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''Alright, I start off with a face-down monster,'' Stated Sean, ''and that's all.''

''Just a face-down monster won't be enough!'' Shannon threatened as she drew.

**Sean:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0_** /**_ 1_** - ****Shannon: **_8000 _**/ **_6 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0 _**&****Peter:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''I summon my Cyber Harpie Lady in attack mode!''

A monster just like the one Shannon had summoned in the last duel appeared, but this one was wearing armor and an electric whip. (1800/1300/4/Winged-Beast/WIND)

''My Cyber Harpie Lady will be treated as a Harpie Lady, which gives me the right to activate the spell Elegant Egotist, which lets me summon Harpie Lady Sisters from my deck as long as I have a Harpie Lady face-up on the field.''

Three Harpie sisters with different hair colors and golden armors came flaying to the field by the effect of the spell card. (1950/2100/6/Winged-Beast/WIND)

''Cyber Harpie Lady, attack his face-down monster!''

''You've just attacked my Magical Merchant!'' Sean said revealing his face-down monster, a purple bug with many hands and all kinds of objects in them. ''That way you've triggered its Flip Effect! I can pick up cards from the top of my deck until I reach a magic or a trap card, and add that cad to my hand. All monsters I pick up will be sent to the graveyard.''

'_Solomon was right!' _Sean thought._ 'card advantage is really important. I'm protecting myself from one attack with my monster, plus I'm gaining a card at the same time I'm filling up my graveyard, another important advantage.'_

''Looks like I'm sending Flamvell Dragonov and Flamvell Magician to my graveyard.'' He said looking at the top three cards in his deck. ''But I'm adding Dark Room of Nightmare to my hand'' He showed a continuous spell card to his opponents.

''That was useless, Sean,'' stated Shannon, ''because now I attack you directly with my Harpie Ladies! Go, Sorority Aerial Strike!''

The three Harpies used their claws to scratch Sean, who barely flinched but made a grimace.

**Sean:**_6050 _**/ **_6 _**/ **_0_** /**_ 0_** - ****Shannon: **_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 0 _**/**_2___**&****Peter:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''Oh, that didn't hurt?'' Shannon said looking at Sean surprised and putting two face-down cards on the field.

''Keep going with the duel.'' Sean told her calmly. ''Pain cannot be avoided, but suffering can be avoided with mental endurance.''

''Bah, stop talking crap!'' cut him Peter as he drew.

**Sean:**_6050 _**/ **_6 _**/ **_0_** /**_ 0_** - ****Shannon: **_8000 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 2 _**/**_2___**&****Peter:**_8000 _**/ **_6 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''It's my turn, so I activate Hand destruction, so we all discard two cards and draw two! I discard Iron Chain Coil and Iron Chain Snake.''

''I'll send to the graveyard my Harpie's hunting ground and my Harpie's Pet Dragon.'' Stated Shannon.

''For my part,'' said Sean, ''I'll send Flamvell Firedog and yet another Flamvell Dragonov to my graveyard.''

They all drew their cards, and then Peter kept playing, ''I summon Iron Chain Repairman, whose effect I know activate, letting me Revive Iron Chain Coil in defense mode!''

The two Iron Chains swarmed Peter's field quickly. (1600/1200/4/Warrior/EARTH) (1100/1600/3/Machine/EARTH)

''Now I'll activate my coil's effect to increase my Repairman's attack!'' (1600/1200/4/Warrior/EARTH) (1900/1200/4/Warrior/EARTH)

''Then I'll place a face-down and activate my Poison Chain, so you'll be sending two cards to your graveyard again, Sean, just like last duel!'' He started laughing hard.

Sean sent two cards from the top of his deck to the card graveyard. He looked at one of them, seeing a second Flamvell Magician.

'_Sweet', _he thought,_ 'Mr. Muto was also right about some young duelists. They don't realize that deck milling the opponent can sometimes backfire… and this time that fire will burn them!'_

''Well, it's my turn then.''

**Sean:**_6050 _**/ **_7 _**/ **_0_** /**_ 0_** - ****Shannon: **_8000 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 2 _**/**_2___**&****Peter:**_8000 _**/ **_2 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 2_

He looked at the card he had just drawn. He did some quick calculations in his head, looked at the field, then at his graveyard, then at his hand, and finally at the field again. He smiled. _Hey Joey, I'm gonna have to use the card you lent me now._

''Come on, are you trying to stall or something?'' Asked Peter with a disgusting tone of voice.

Sean's smile didn't wear off. ''No. I'm trying to finish this duel right here right now. You see, first I activate Giant Trunade, a card someone gave me. This will make us send all magic and trap cards on the field to our hands.''

''That's stupid,'' told him Peter, ''I'll just activate my Poison Chain again next turn and…''

''There will be no next turn, Peter.'' Sean said with a smile. ''Now that you have no cards to protect yourselves, I'll show you what I've got.''

Shannon coughed. ''Ehem, Sean, we still have our monsters to protect ourselves.''

Sean looked at her like she was an idiot and responded, ''I know that. But I meant actual protection. Those monsters are gonna be destroyed in no time, all thanks to the spell card Rekindling! This lets me special summon as many FIRE attribute monsters with 200 DEF in my graveyard, but they'll be removed from play in the end phase. Again, that's no problem since I won't end my turn; you guys will lose before that.''

Sean's field was now full, filled with a Doberman with a body made of lava, Flamvell Dog, (1900/200/4/Beast/FIRE), two magicians with fire canes, Flamvell Magician, (1400/200/4/Spellcaster/FIRE) and two Dragons made of lava, like the Doberman, named Flamvell Dragonov. (1100/200/2/Dragon/FIRE)

''Of course, that's not all. First I activate my two continuous spell cards, Dark Room of Nightmare. This way, every time you guys receive damage, except battle damage, I can inflict 300 points of additional damage to you, and, as I have two spells, that'll be 600 each time I inflict burn damage.''

Peter and Shannon shacked in fear as the two spells were activated and the field was swarmed, knowing that nothing good could happen now.

''Next up, I'll do something really cool.'' Continued Sean, ''I'm going to do a double Synchro Summon.''

''Say WHAT!'' Peter exclaimed.

Everyone in the room started whispering and talking about that 'Double Synchro Summon'. Once, the Duel Monster teacher had told them about synchro monsters, and how they were made. Duel Monsters was a class you could take, and it gave you credit as a fine art class, like music or art.

''What you just heard.'' Said Sean, ''I tune twice my level 4 tuner monsters, Flamvell Magician, with my non-tuner monster, Flamvell Dragonov, to synchro summon two synchro monsters!''

Twice at the same time, two stars aligned within four rings, making a bright light as Sean chanted.

''When the heat reaches its maximum and no heart can't handle it, the flames will combine to form a new fighter!'' The two lines made two bright lights. ''Synchro Summon, burn the foe, my two Flamvell Uruquizas!''

Two men with blue hair, a dark armor with read protection in its shoulders and angry face, and flames in their hands were synchro summoned form the bright light created during the tune. (2100/400/6/Warrior/FIRE))

**Sean:**_6050 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_2_** /**_ 3_** - ****Shannon: **_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_2___**&****Peter:**_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 2_

''Now, as I still haven't normal summoned a monster this turn, I'll call forth my Ultimate Baseball Kid!''

A little boy with flames in his eyes and a red baseball uniform appeared on the field, holding a dangerous bat in his hand. (500/100/4/Warrior/FIRE) (3500/100/4/Warrior/FIRE)

''3500!'' asked Shannon in a sharp tone of voice.

''It would normally have 500,'' stated Sean, ''but it gains 1000 Attack Points for every other FIRE attribute monster on my side of the field. Now, Flamvell Uruquizas, attack Iron Chain Coil with Flamvell Strike of Flames!''

Uruquizas' fire started to grow, and then it punched the Coil with its burning fist, destroying it.

''Oh, I forgot to mention Peter,'' said Sean, ''my Flamvell Uruqizas inflicts that thing you said last time… Piercing Damage.''

**Sean:**_6050 _**/ **_2 _**/ **_2_** /**_ 4_** - ****Shannon: **_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_2___**&****Peter:**_7500 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''I'm not done yet, not even close. First, your Repairman loses those 300 attack points since Iron Chain Coil is not on the field anymore.'' He said pointing at the Iron Chain Repairman. ''And then I'll attack with my Flamvell Firedog to Shannon's Cyber Harpie Lady.''

The dog jumped at the Harpie, making her burn in flames as the dog bought everything it could reach.

**Sean:**_6050 _**/ **_2 _**/ **_2_** /**_ 4_** - ****Shannon: **_7900 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_1___**&****Peter:**_7500 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''Now, when my Flamvell Firedog destroys a monster by battle and send it to the graveyard, I can special summon a FIRE monster with 200 DEF or less from my deck, like Flamvell Grunika!''

The new monster on the field was a red dragon with two legs and flames in its hands, giving Peter and Shannon a mean look. (1700/200/4/Dragon/FIRE)

''Now my Flamvell Grunika will destroy your Repairman with Flamvell Burning Breath!''

The dragon breathed fire on the repairman, destroying it. ''When Flamvell Grunika destroys a monster by battle you receive damage equal to its level times 200!'' Grunika shot the fire in its hands directly at Peter, burning his life points as well.

**Sean:**_6050 _**/ **_2 _**/ **_2_** /**_ 4_** - ****Shannon: **_7900 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_1___**&****Peter:**_6700 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''And, as you've received damage that wasn't battle damage, I can activate the effect of the two Dark Rooms of Nightmare, so I'll inflict 300 points of damage to you and 300 to Shannon.''

**Sean:**_6050 _**/ **_2 _**/ **_2_** /**_ 4_** - ****Shannon: **_7600 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_1___**&****Peter:**_6700 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''Now I attack you directly with my Flamvell Urquizas and my powered up Ultimate Baseball Kid, who has 4500 ATK now that Grunika has hit the field!''

The two monsters attacked Peter with flaming attacks that burned his life points down one more time.

**Sean:**_6050 _**/ **_2 _**/ **_2_** /**_ 4_** - ****Shannon: **_7600 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_1___**&****Peter:**_100 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

Peter looked at his rival with a scared look. He couldn't believe the wimp he had defeated three days ago had now left it with just 100 life points.

''Next, I move to my main phase two.'' Declared Sean.

''What!'' Shannon sounded surprised as her voice had reached an extremely high pitch. ''You aren't done yet!''

''Of course not. I said I would beat both of you in one turn. Peter is almost down, and now it's your time to lose, Shannon. I activate my Ultimate Baseball Kid's special ability. By sacrificing one other FIRE attribute monster in my side of the field, I inflict 500 points of damage to you. And, as I have two Dark Rooms of Nightmare, which will inflict 300 points every time your life points go down by a card effect that's not Dark Room of nightmare, I'll inflict 1100 points of damage for every monster I sacrifice. So I send to my graveyard my two Flamvell Uruquizas, my Flamvell Firedog, and my Flamvell Grunika to inflict a total of 4100 points of damage to you, and I'll use the last 300 to finish Peter off.''

The baseball kid started to bat each monster right towards Shannon, and they became a giant ball of fire when they got batted. Every time this happened, two screams were heard from the dark rooms of nightmare, and two other fireballs got shot out of nowhere and hit Shannon as well. After this happening four times, Shannon was down on her knees, panting.

**Sean:**_6050 _**/ **_2 _**/ **_2_** /**_ 1_** - ****Shannon: **_3500 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_1___**&****Peter:**_0000_

''Hey, I'm still standing.'' She said panting and looking at the floor. ''I think you didn't calculate well when you were bluffing before.''

''Shannon, look at my hand.'' Told him Sean, ''I still have two cards in my hand''

''And you are going to take 3200 points off me with those two cards?'' Asked Shannon with incredulity.

''No! Just with one of them, my second copy of rekindling.'' Sean said showing her the card

When he activated the card for a second time, Flamvell Dragonov, Magician, Firedog, and Grunika were summoned in a huge flame for a second time.

''You know what comes now. I think it's about time my Ultimate Baseball Kid makes a homerun!''

The Kid started to bat the monsters again, making Shannon's life points go down to 0 and ending that duel.

**Sean:**_6050 _**/ **_1 _**/ **_2_** /**_ 1_** - ****Shannon: **_0000 _**&****Peter:**_0000_

The crowd started to cheer. Even the teachers, some of who played Duel Monsters, clapped their hands at Sean. Mara ran towards Sean quickly and hugged him with strength, making him lose his balance and almost fall to the floor. She was followed by Fujimaru, Ashley, and Rob, who had huge smiles on their faces.

''Dude!'' exclaimed Rob. ''That was some awesome playing over there! You sure heat up that duel!'' He laughed at his own pun.

''Thanks Rob.'' Responded Sean happily. He then turned around and looked at Mark. ''Hey, I still need to duel you.''

Mark looked at him with apprehension, and he then took out a bunch of cards from his bag pack and gave them to him. He then walked back slowly, without saying a word. Sean then gave the cards to their respective owners, and got back his Infernal Flame Emperor. Mara looked at Sean: He looked more mature than he used to, and his lazy smile was almost gone, as well as the relaxation in his eyes. Mara was happy, because she knew those things were there because Sean didn't like to think about John, so he was always acting like he was lazy and happy. But now… it looked like he had gotten over it and their dreams of getting John back were possible.

''Hey Sean.'' Mara said.

''What is it?'' He asked, as he turned around.

Mara blushed, and realized this wasn't the moment to ask him about what had happened to him. ''Hum… Nothing, I'll… Never mind.''

Before Sean could ask what was up, the bell rang, and all students had to go to their respective classes.

After school, while Sean was coming out of the main building, John approached him.

''Nice duel over there.'' He said. ''You know how to put up a good show.''

Sean looked at him angrily. ''Friday you called me a loser. Don't be all clingy now.''

''I wouldn't be like this if hadn't to do it, trust me. But it's true, that was a good SHOW. Just a show. You won't be as lucky next time. But, if you think you can be, take this ticket to the Regional Selective Tournament.''

''What's that?''

''It's a tournament in which the winner will win the possibility of going to the Ultimate Championship, a tournament in which who the king of games is will be decided.''

''I thought the king of games was Yugi Muto.'' Sean pointed out. Then he remembered what the Ultimate Champioship was all about: A trap to get the person being possessed by the three punishments of the Duel Monsters.

''I know, but that title can now pass on to a new person. Come on Sean, a new era is coming. An era for a new king of games.''

Sean thought about it. He had always looked up to Yugi, and now he had the chance to duel him with all that he had.

''Ok, but do you have any more tickets? I want my friends to come as well.''

''Your friends can't come unless they get a ticket.'' John said. ''And don't ask me how to get one, because I got mine for free. They gave me another one just in case I found someone like you.''

''Oh…'' Sean looked at the floor. ''I'll be going there. I'll certainly defeat you at that tournament, John.''

''With a deck that isn't yours?'' John asked sharply. ''I don't think so.''

''Wait, how do you-''

''Because you didn't use any of those cards with your heart. Well, maybe that synchro monster, Uruquizas, but I know the rest didn't go along with you.''

Those words got recorded in fire within Sean's heart. His own cards… That meant cards that he had won and he deserved, cards that went along with him.

''If what you're telling me is correct, Solomon has made his first move.'' said a coded voice coming from a computer.

The computer was placed in a dark room, having only one person inhabiting it at this moment, who was right in front of the computer. The shadows covered his face, even though the screen of the computer gave a weak light to the room.

''But that doesn't mean we aren't ahead.'' Said the resident of that room.

''Of course not. But we need some more duelists in our side. To be exact, I want Chazz Princeton. I've got some cards that belong to him, and only he can use correctly.''

''Alright, but how are we going to get him in our side?''

''About that… I'll use my favorite TV show. That way Chazzie will get all cards we need… The Fallen Angels and The Destiny Heroes. ''

''I see what you mean, sir.'' Said the person in the room. ''We'll use Aster Phoenix for the Destiny Heroes, but… Who will we use for the fairies?

The voice in the computer laughed. ''That has an easy answer… Aster Phoenix, again.''

''What? I thought we were using him to get the destiny heroes.''

''Doctor… By now you should have realized what we are going to use Aster Phoenix for. He'll turn Chazz Princeton into darkness, and then Chazz will take his main deck of destiny heroes and his second deck of Fairies.''

''Oh… I didn't think of his second deck.'' Said the one in the room. ''He only used it once against Jaden Yuki a long time ago.''

''It's good that you now realize it.'' The voice in the computer responded. ''Now I'm leaving. I'll talk to you when little Chazz is on our side… on the mean time, I'll get the other person we need in our team.''

''Alright, sir.'' Said the other closing the computer, revealing the fact that it was a laptop. Then, he turned on the lights, and saw himself in the mirror. Like always, Doctor Crawler looked like a woman in some aspects, having ear rings, colored leaps, and long bold hair. He wore his typical blue uniform, showing that he was the head of the Obelisk class in Duel Academy.

That afternoon, Sean returned to the wooden house in which he had found Solomon Muto. He knocked the door, and it was opened by Solomon Muto, like last time.

''How did the duel go?'' Asked Solomon.

''I won.'' Answered Sean. ''But… A friend told me something about using cards that belonged to me… I mean, how did he know you had just given me these Flamvell monsters?''

''For the way you used them, probably.'' Solomon responded.

''But… he said I used Flamvell Uruquizas like it belonged to me.''

''Oh well, then that means Flamvell Uruquizas goes well with your personality and your way of thinking.''

''Wow, I didn't know cards could be like that…''

Solomon looked at him with disappointment. ''Kid, this aren't just cards. They are the spirits of monsters that have been put within a card, normally to play, but they can be used for many purposes.''

''Yeah, our teacher has told us about security system in museums that use actual monsters and stuff like that.''

''You should listen to your duel monsters teacher more, kid. In the mean time, I've got a new training for you.'' He said opening the door and revealing the same garden they had been training in all week, with Seto, Yugi, and Joey practicing as well. None of them said anything, as it looked like they were busy on how to take down 3 monsters and 3000 life points from a dueling machine just by using two cards in their hand and a face-down.

''So what's the training going to be about?'' Sean asked.

''We're going to duel, betting cards. You'll use your former deck, but you can combine it with any cards you see here, and keep in mind that you'll have to win them.''

''But… If I lose…'' Sean seemed worried about his cards.

''You have to risk some things in your life to get other things, Sean.'' Solomon told him wisely.

As a response, Sean gave him a determined look and turned his Duel-Disk on.

''So you wanna get started right away, right?'' Solomon said turning on his own Duel-Disk. ''We don't have the whole day, so we'll play with 4000 life points. The one who wins chooses a card to get, and the one who loses chooses who goes first the next duel.''

''You're on!'' Shouted Sean.

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **_5 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****Solomon:**_4000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''The challenger goes first, so I'll summon the Great Angus in attack mode!''

An angry beast breathing fire came to the field burning everything on its way, its red eyes showing anger and madness. (1800/600/4/Beast/FIRE)

''Next I'll activate Soul of Fire, which lets me remove from play a pyro type monster from my deck and inflict damage to your Life Points equal to half its ATK! So I remove from play my Infernal Flame Emperor and inflict 1350 points of damage to you!''

The Infernal Flame Emperor appeared right next to Solomon, and then it exploded, making Solomon fall back to the floor.

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_01_** - ****Solomon:**_4000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''The bad things about this card are that you get to draw a card and I can't attack this turn, but that doesn't matter since it's the first turn. Now I activate the spell card Different Dimension Reincarnation, which lets me choose a removed from play monster and special summon it by discarding a card. Come back, Infernal Flame Emperor!''

The Flaming Emperor was summoned and its fire got as mighty looking as always. (ATK: 2700)

''Finally I'll place a card face-down and end my turn!''

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****Solomon:**_2650 _**/ **_7 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

Solomon negated with his head. ''I thought I taught you about card advantage, Sean. Now I have more cards than you, just because you wanted to inflict some burn damage. ''

''I know Mr. Muto, reason why I chose to put this card, Soul of Fire, in my deck but not bet for it.''

''You are using cards that you are not going to use later?'' He sighed. ''Oh well, I'll show you what hand advantage can do when I activate Lightning Vortex. You see, this is one of the cards that will be used a lot in tournaments,'' He said as a spell card with rays coming from the sky was activated, ''so I put it on this training deck. I made this deck just so Yugi and his friends could practice what it would be lik-''

''I am not a friend of Yugi, and I never will!'' Kaiba yelled at the other side of the garden. ''I am his rival, and I'm here because of that card, Mr. Muto!''

Solomon sighed again and looked at Sean. ''Youngsters of now days…'' he muttered. Then he looked at Sean and coughed. ''Where were we? Oh yes, as you've given an extra card, I can activate Lightning Vortex without worrying too much. You see, I can discard a card from my hand, such as the card Phantom Beast Thunder Pegasus that you made me draw, and I destroy all your face-up monsters. So you just wasted one… two… four cards for nothing.''

''Sorry mr. Muto, but I've got a trap!'' Sean said with a smirk. ''Spiritual Fire Art, Kurenai! This lets me sacrifice a FIRE monster on my side of the field and inflict damage to your life points equals to its ATK! I can tell you right now, I want THIS card!''

''Wait, what!'' Solomon looked at Sean surprised. ''I definitely didn't see that coming. '' He said when a magic circle gulped all of the Infernal Flame Emperor's body and then threw all the fire it had absorbed at him.

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****Solomon:**_0000_

''So…'' Sean said looking at the new card he had just gotten. ''I guess burn damage it's worth it sometimes. By the way, that's one. Counting with Infernal Flame Emperor, which I'm also putting on my deck, that's 2 cards I have for my new deck. That means I have 42 more duels left, as there are 4 cards I want in my extra deck.''

Solomon looked at him proudly.

_This guy… _Solomon thought._ He reminds me of my grandson. He'll definitely help him defeat the evil that's about to come…_

At 18:30, Fujimaru turned on the television, knowing that his favorite dueling program would start shortly. It featured many pro duelists, and right now they were going to have his favorite duelist in it, Aster Phoenix. As he changed to the 6th channel, he saw how Aster Phoenix moved to the center of a stage, smiling. Everyone cheered him, and he waved his hand in return. Then, the presenter took the microphone and said:

''Welcome to Duel Time everyone! As you can see, today's program will feature a special guest as we can all see, Aster Phoenix!''

The audience screamed his name even louder than before. ''ASTER! ASTER! ASTER! ASTER!''

The presenter looked at Aster and asked, ''So, Mr. Phoenix, do you know about the Tournament held by the Kaiba Corporation, the Ultimate Championship? Only the best duelists will be there!''

''Yes, I've heard about it.'' Aster responded in a jovial tone of voice. ''And I still don't have an entrance. I've heard that it's really hard to get one.''

''Well, that's why you're here, Mr. Phoenix!'' The presenter told him. ''Because we are now offering the once in a lifetime chance of getting an entrance to… THE ULTIMATE CHAMPIONSHIP!'' He said the last three words so loud the crowd's noise sounded like the buzz of a fly compared to it.

Aster raised an eyebrow. ''Really? I'm surprised… What do I have to do?''

''All what you have to do is duel another expert duelist, and the one who wins will go to the tournament! If one of you wins but you can't go, then the loser will go.''

''Alright.'' Aster agreed excited. ''Who will my opponent be then?''

The presenter smirked, ''Well that, ladies and gentleman, will be decided by our next guest, Dr. Crawler!''

Back at his room, Fujimaru took a cookie out of his mouth and looked at the television excited. ''Wow… two guests in a program. I guess this Ultimate Championship thing is getting things all heated up… I'd better not miss the duels there.'' He glanced at the television, waiting for Jaden's former teacher to come.

And there he was, walking towards the center of the stage, with his blue cape, blond hair, and womanly features. The presenter kept talking.

''So Dr. Crawler, who will you choose as Aster Phoenix's rival?''

Crawler took the microphone and cleared his throat. ''Well, I have a former student ready for Aster Phoenix to duel against, and let me tell you all, this duelist was at the top of my class. I'd like him to duel… Chazz Princeton!''

''Alright, the decision is made! Don't miss the program tomorrow folks, because the match will be aired, Aster Phoenix vs. Chazz Princeton!''

The presenter words were barely audible in a dark room far from where the program was almost silently being aired. ''Perfect.'' A hollow voice said out loud. ''Aster is a very skilled duelist. He'll beat Chazz, and then his desperation for losing will turn him to darkness, just like I did with John. It's a shame that John will never be as good as Chazz and my future controls, because he was the first one I controlled. Oh well, things don't come out as good the first time. But If this goes well… Yugi and his pitiful friends will stand no chance… And those three cards will be mine.''


	6. Chapter 6

**I hope you like Aster and Chazz, they're gonna be a lot here. Oh, by the way, characters will use cards from the manga and the anime. For example, Jaden will use Elemental Hero Absolute Zero, as well as Flame Wingman, and Chazz will use Light and Darkness Dragon as well as his Armed Dragons. Aster will not use the vision and masked heroes, he'll just use the destiny heroes.**

**Also, I'm using English attacks for this, like white lightning for the Blue-Eyes White Dragon instead of Horrible Burst Stream.**

**I finally got my computer back!**

**Forbidden and Limited List: Advanced Format March 2010**

**Chapter 6 – Pro Dueling**

Chazz Princeton was tired, suffocated, but happy. He'd been training for the past three days intensively, since he had received Dr. Crawler's notification, which said he was going to duel Aster Phoenix in order to go to the biggest tournament ever; a tournament where only the best duelists in the whole world were going to be present. He looked at his cards, and the spirit of his Light and Darkness Dragon appeared behind him, as well as his Armed Dragon, assuring his victory.

"I…" he muttered, "I'm ready for this!" He got up, took his deck of cards, and left the room. "Let's Chazz it up!'

''Without us boss?''

Chazz looked back. That voice came from a pile of cards that he had taken of his deck, one of them being the little Yellow Ojama, a monster whose powers could only be brought when he was with his two brothers, the Black and Green Ojamas.

"Sorry about that,'' Chazz apologized coldly, "but I need to win.''

Without further ado, he exited the room and closed the door after he left.

Friday, everyone at math class was excited. They knew that their teacher was a great fan of Chazz Princeton, so, with a little luck, and if they talked about the right stuff, they wouldn't have class.

"Oh, come on, Mr. Log isn't that stupid. He'll probably tell you guys to stop talking." A girl with blond hair said.

Fujimaru and Sean laughed. "Oh, come on," Said Sean, "You know Chazz hasn't been doing great lately, so Mr. Log is gonna be all heated up about this duel."

Before anyone could reply to that, the bell rang, and the teacher entered the class, obviously trying to look calm.

"Alright," he said, "today, we are going to…"

"Hey Catherine," Fujimaru muttered to the girl that had just talked, "five bucks today he's not teach us anything."

Catherine looked at Fujimaru angrily and replied, "Alright, you're up.''

Before the teacher started to write anything on the board, Fujimaru raised his hand. Mr. Log saw it, so he asked, "What is it, Fujimaru?''

"I was wondering if you had realized that Aster Phoenix has been working on a new strategy.''

Mr. Log looked at Fujimaru interested. "Wait, what? The same Aster Phoenix who's going to duel Chazz Princeton tonight?''

"Yes, sir."

Catherine raised her hand. "Hum… Sir… the class…"

"That's not important now!" The teacher shouted, raising his hand to shut her up. He then cleared his throat and looked at Fujimaru. "Well, no matter what strategy he's working on, Chazz will win. His armed dragons and Light and Darkness Dragon have been proved to work really well."

Sean laughed and stood up. "But sir," he said, "Aster Phoenix has proved to be a much better duelists than Chazz Princeton. He even beat Jaden Yuki once."

The teacher left all his paper on his desk and put his hands on his hips, saying, "What do you all kids have with Jaden Yuki? Chazz Princeton is a much better duelist than him!"

Fujimaru coughed. "Well, tell that to the principal of Duel Academy, who has seen many duels between them, all of them won by Jaden!''

"Alright, but we aren't talking about Jaden now! This is about Aster and Chazz!''

"Yeah, but since Chazz has been beaten by Jaden, and Jaden has been beaten by Aster…'' For once, Sean was enjoying the math class.

The discussion went on for longer, until the bell rang, and the students were dismissed. Fujimaru turned to Catherine.

"I believe it was five bucks." He said with a smile.

She put the bill on his hand angrily and left quickly without saying a word.

Sean went where Mr. Muto and the others were training. Solomon had talked with his parents so he could stay overnight. So far, he had gotten 23 cards for his deck, not quite what he was hoping to have gotten by now, but he knew that he had a chance to get the rest of the deck on the weekend. When he got there, Solomon, instead of a simple 'hello', told him:

"Sean, you'll be watching the duel between Aster and Chazz tonight."

Sean got upset. "But I don't have time for that, the tournament here to see who in domino city goes to the Ultimate Championship will be hold in a week!"

"I know that, Sean," Solomon replied, "but I really need you in that Ultimate Championship, and I want you to study who's going to be there.''

Sean looked at the TV. "Alright," he finally agreed. "But we'll be training until the duel happens."

Chazz was now right outside of the stage in which the TV show was about to begin. The lights were turned off, and no one spoke. Aster Phoenix could be seen at the other side, and that pumped Chazz even more.

_This is my chance. _He thought. _My chance of showing the world who I really am._

A light was then turned on, which focused on the presenter of the show. The cameraman gave him thumbs up and the presenter started:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we're finally back here in Duel Time! And, as promised, at my right,'' he said pointing at Aster, "we have the infamous duelist Aster Phoenix! Please come on stage!''

As Aster came to where everyone was watching, the crowd started cheering for him, and the noise made him smile. Back at the wooden house in the forest where Sean, had been training, Solomon said:

"Sean, you'd better come now, the show has started.''

Sean came, covered in sweat. "25 cards.'' He muttered.

"It's good that you know how to count,'' said Solomon sarcastically, "but watch this now.''

Sean watched the television with interest, seeing how the presenter now said:

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, I want to hear a big applause for the challenger, Chazz Princeton!''

The cheers and screams for Chazz weren't as loud, which ticked him off.

_We'll see who's more popular at the end of this duel! _He assured himself.

The two looked at each other, and then the presenter said:

"Alright, let the duel begin!'

A huge screen was turned on right on top of him, in the middle of the two duelists, which displayed:

**Chazz:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****Aster:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''The challenger goes first!'' The presenter said.

''Alright, draw!'' Chazz stated. ''I'll start off with my Armed Dragon Level three!''

A small orange dragon with a steel armor covering its belly, wings and tail appeared in the field, having spikes in the tail and its abdomen. (1300/900/3/Dragon/ WIND)

"Next I activate the spell card from my hand, double summon! I think it's self explanatory. I can normal summon once again this turn, and this time I choose Golem Dragon!''

A brown dragon with its body made of rocks was now protecting the little Armed Dragon with its huge claws. (200/2000/4/Dragon/EARTH)

"While it is face-up on the field,'' Chazz explained, "you cannot choose any other dragon other than it as an attack target. I now end my turn.''

**Chazz:**_8000 _**/ **_3 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **2** - ****Aster:**_8000 _**/ **_6 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

"Chazz Princeton has summoned two monsters in his first turn!'' The presenter exclaimed. "That way his Armed Dragon will be protected so it can evolve during his next turn into a more powerful monster!''

Aster smirked. "Chazz, that trick may have worked back in duel academy.'' He said. "But we are now in the pro league. I'll break your defense with one card!''

"Try me.'' Chazz dared him.

"You asked for it.'' Aster warned. "I summon Destiny Hero Doom Lord!''

An evil-looking warrior was now standing against the two dragons, having a dark armor and an old red cape, its white head covered mostly by the purple back of its suit. It hands were covered with huge giant claws, and its red eyes stared maliciously at the little Armed Dragon. (600/800/3/Warrior/Dark)

"Next I activate its special ability. Once per turn, if it is in face-up attack position, I can remove from play one of your monsters, like your Armed Dragon Level three!''

A hole opened behind the small dragon, which was sucked into it.

"Next up I activate the field spell card clock tower prison and the continuous spell card D-Formation!''

The stage was now just like London, and the Big Ben stood out right behind Aster, where everyone could contemplate its majesty. Right on the bottom of the Big Ben there was a huge capsule, surrounded by all kinds of cables and cords, with nothing but water on its inside.

"As I can't attack the turn I activate Doomlord's effect, I end my turn.''

"It looks like Chazz plans have been crushed!'' Mentioned the commentator. "What will happen now?''

The crowd cheered for Aster as Chazz drew his new card.

**Chazz:**_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **1** -Clock Tower Prison- ****Aster:**_8000 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 1_

"I summon Lance Lindwurm !'' Chazz shouted.

A two-legged blue dragon with golden armor in its chest and head was summoned, holding a lance with both hands. (1800/1200/4/Dragon/WIND)

"Now I pass my Golem Dragon into defense mode and attack your Destiny Hero Doom Lord with my Lance Lindwurm!''

The dragon used its lance to pierce through Doom Lord, destroying it and dealing damage to Aster.

**Chazz:**_8000 _**/ **_3 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **2** -Clock Tower Prison- ****Aster:**_6800 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 0_

"Not bad, Chazz,'' Aster said, "but you are acting just like I thought you would. You see, every time one of my Destiny Heroes is destroyed, my D-Formation gains a counter."

The capsule now held a big 'D' inside, surrounded by the water within.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Chazz may have made a comeback, but it looks like by doing so he's doing exactly what Aster wanted!''

The crowd started to cheer Aster on, and Chazz got angrier each moment. How could they be cheering the person who had just lost his only monster?

"I'll now place a face-down and end my turn.'' He stated.

"Alright," Aster said, "draw!"

**Chazz:**_8000 _**/ **2**/**_ 1 _**/ **2** -Clock Tower Prison- ****Aster:**_6800 _**/ **4 **/ **_2 _**/**_ 0_

"Alright, now that it's my standby phase, two counts get closer to their destiny. First, your dragon will be back on my next turn. Then, my Clock Tower Prison gets a Clock Counter.''

The arms of the Big Ben now showed a new time 11:15

"For every Clock Counter,'' he continued, "my Clock Tower Prison gains 15 minutes in time, and it can hold a maximum of 4 Clock Counters. Now I'll place a face-down monster and a face-down card. By the way, if the arms of the clock reach 12:00, then I'll be invincible to all kinds of battle damage.''

"I'll beat you before that happens then!'' Chazz exclaimed as he drew a card.

**Chazz:**_8000 _**/ **_3 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **2** -Clock Tower Prison (1)- ****Aster:**_6800 _**/ **2 **/ **_3 _**/**_ 1_

"I summon my Masked Dragon in attack mode!'' A red, small dragon with a bone mask appeared next to the lindwurn, exhaling fire from its mouth. (1400/1100/3/Dragon/FIRE)

"Now I attack with my Lance Lindwurm, who inflicts piercing damage, to your defensive monster!''

The monster Aster had was flipped face-up, and now everyone could see Destiny Hero Captain Tenacious holding up his shield, trying to protect himself from the dragon that was coming at him. (800/800/3/Warrior/DARK) The dragon raised its lance and pierced through its body in a way that it also ended up hitting Aster as well.

**Chazz:**_8000 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **3** -Clock Tower Prison (1)- ****Aster:**_5800_**/ **2 **/ **_3 _**/**_ 0_

"Remember Chazz, as you've destroyed one of my Destiny Heroes, my D-Formation gets a counter.''

"Now I attack directly with my masked Dragon!''

The dragon breathed fire all over Aster, giving him a sensation of burn, even though he wasn't actually in fire.

**Chazz:**_8000 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **4** -Clock Tower Prison (1)- ****Aster:**_4400_**/ **2 **/ **_3 _**/**_ 0_

"Hey Aster, I think I'm going to beat you before your clock can reach four counters.'' Chazz said imperiously.

Now, inside the capsule, there were two huge Ds instead of one, and it looked like no more could be fit within it.

"Oh, really?'' Aster said drawing a card and starting his turn.

**Chazz:**_8000 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **3** -Clock Tower Prison (1)- ****Aster:**_4400_**/ **3 **/ **_3 _**/**_ 0_

"As two of my standby phases have passed, your Armed Dragon level 3 comes back now. And now I'll show you that Destiny, while it may not be changed, can be sped up.''

"Wait, what do you mean by that?'' Chazz asked with fear in his voice.

"Well, first Clock Tower Prison gets a counter, since it's my standby phase.'' He said imperiously, "And then I'll summon Destiny Hero Diamond Dude in attack mode!''

A man in dark attire appeared with his arms, legs and back having pure diamond sticking out, and his hair being white. He had a green cloak that looked pretty old, and a diamond covering his eyes. (1400/1600/4/Warrior/DARK)

"And now I'll activate my D-Formation.'' He continued, "So, for every counter in it, when I summon a monster, I can send this card to the graveyard and get two monsters with the same name from my deck.''

**Chazz:**_8000 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **4** -Clock Tower Prison (2)- ****Aster:**_4400_**/ **4 **/ **_2 _**/**_ 1_

"Stop wasting my time.'' Ordered Chazz.

"Oh, trust me, I'm not doing so. First, I activate the incredibly rare spell card allure of darkness. It lets me draw two cards and then remove from play a DARK monster from my hand.'' He drew and, without doubting put one of his cards in his pocket. "And what I just removed was one of my two Destiny Hero Diamond Dudes. Not only that, I also activate my Diamond Dude's special ability, which lets me reveal the top card from my deck, and, if it is a spell, I get to send it to the graveyard and activate it on my next turn with no costs. So here it goes!'' Aster looked at the top card in his deck and smiled. "It looks like Destiny is not with me today…'' He showed Chazz the card he had revealed, Destiny Hero Dogma. "So, as it is a monster, I have to send it to the bottom of my deck.''

"Are you gonna do something else that wastes my time or is it my turn already?'' Chazz asked impatiently. "Come on, you even lost your most powerful monster, having 3400 attack points, because of your own Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude!''

Chazz looked at him imperiously as he pressed a button on his duel disk. "You… I'll teach you to respect me now, Chazz Princeton. I activate my lightning vortex! This way I can discard my Destiny Hero – Malicous and destroy all your face up monsters!''

A rain of thunders came down Chazz monsters, destroying them and leaving his field wide open. But, as the lightning came down, a voice was heard:

"I activate my trap! Interdimentional matter transporter!''

**Chazz:**_8000 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **0** -Clock Tower Prison (2)- ****Aster:**_4400_**/ **2 **/ **_2 _**/**_ 1_

Aster looked at Chazz's field, and saw what he expected: nothing. _'That was weird' _he thought, _'I could have sworn he just activated a trap card. Then why are his monsters still destroyed?'_

"Now, Chazz,'' Aster continued as if he had no internal struggle for what had happened with the trap card, "Time to speed up destiny thanks to my trap, Eternal Dread!'' A trap was flipped, showing a huge 'D' on top of the clock tower prison. "This card adds to more clock counters to my clock tower prison. Guess what time it is now…''

**Chazz:**_8000 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **0** -Clock Tower Prison (4)- ****Aster:**_4400_**/ **2 **/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

"Time to reverse the duel!'' He continued with spirit, "I activate the quick-play spell card from my hand, Mystical Space Typhoon, which lets me destroy a spell or trap card on the field!''

Chazz face now had an expression of pure terror, looking at a huge whirlwind getting awfully close to the clock tower prison.

"By the looks on your face,'' Aster said with a smirk, "I think I know what your guess it… And let me tell you, you're guess is correct. I destroy my own clock tower prison!''

The huge tower was hit by the whirlwind, falling into pieces and revealing a huge monster inside of it, with chains in his wrists and ankles, its face covered with a steel helmet and having a necklace with the form of a lock around its neck. (?/?/8/Warrior/DARK)

"When my Clock Tower Prison is destroyed while it has 4 counters in it, the prisoner within it is liberated!'' Aster said, "Meet Destiny Hero –Dread Master, special summoned from my deck! Now, thanks to its effect I can revive two Destiny Hero Monsters, and as an added bonus its attack and defense points are now equal to the combined original attack points of all my other Destiny Heroes.''

As Destiny Heroes – Malicious (800/800/6/Warrior/DARK) and Captain Tenacious (800/800/3/Warrior/DARK) were summoned the attack points of the Dread Master went up. (3000/3000/8/Warrior/DARK)

" Now I'll attack you directly with all my Destiny Heroes! Take this!'' As he commanded, all his monsters rushed towards Chazz, hitting him hardly and making him fall back.

**Chazz:**_2000 _**/ **_2 _**/ **0**/ **0** - ****Aster:**_4400_**/ **1 **/ **_0 _**/**_ 4_

"That's all.'' Aster said without mercy.

The crowd was cheering Aster like crazy, making such a comeback in just a turn, now having four monsters on his side of the field

"Ugh…'' Chazz grunted, getting up slowly. "I… draw.''

**Chazz:**_2000 _**/ **_3 _**/ **0**/ **0** - ****Aster:**_4400_**/ **1 **/ **_0 _**/**_ 3_

"And now that's my standby phase… my Armed Dragon Level 3 comes back.''

"Say what!'' Aster asked stunned.

"What you heard… Aster.'' Chazz stated hyperventilating, still hurt by the precious massive attack. "I used my trap, interdimentional matter transporter, to save my Armed Dragon level 3 and send it to a different dimension, removing him from play until my standby phase.''

"Not bad.'' Aster said surprised. "But what are you going to do with that little dragon?''

"Well… first I'll activate it's special ability. During my standby phase, I can send it to the graveyard in order to special summon Armed Dragon level 5!''

A bigger and fatter version of the little armed dragon appeared on the field, having a huge and powerful tail plus sharp blades all over its body ready to crush anything. (2400/1700/5/Dragon/WIND)

"But that's not all!'' Said Chazz, "Next I activate the spell card Level Up! You see, normally, I can only evolve my Armed Dragon level 5 during the end phase of which it destroyed a monster by battle. But, thanks to this card, I'm able to evolve it right here and right now! Come on forth, Armed Dragon Level 7!''

A huge Dragon now roared in the field, it's four legs standing on the stage, its body wearing real silver armor throughout its body, with huge sharp blades everywhere, and with a much fierce look than the previous stages. (2800/1000/7/Dragon/WIND)

"WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT BY LETTING THAT LITTLE DRAGON LIVE SUCHA BIG THREAT WOULD COME OUT THIS TURN?'' Asked the presenter of the show.

"But I'm not done yet!''

An unanimous 'what!' was heard in the stage, caused by the crowd.

"I sacrifice my Armed Dragon Level 7 to summon Armed Dragon Level 10!''

The crowd couldn't believe it. Chazz had gone from the weakest armed dragon to the strongest one in one turn, summoning one of the two ace cards in his deck, the other one being Light and Darkness Dragon. This one was a two-legged Dragon, incredibly bulky and fully covered with armor, being as tall as the ceiling of the room and having blades and drills all over its body, making it the strongest monster on the field (3000/2000/10/Dragon/WIND)

Chazz was looking at the fierce monster, stoned. It couldn't be… But at least that dragon couldn't destroy all his chances of reversal. If Chazz tried to destroy any of his destiny heroes in order to weaken Dread Master, then Aster could summon Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude in his next turn to make his Dread Master's attack points raise enough to destroy the Armed Dragon. And the Armed Dragon attacking Destiny Hero-Dread Master would be a suicidal attack, since both of their monsters had 3000 ATK. Whatever Chazz did, Aster would have control of the match. Or so he thought, until he saw a smirk in Chazz's face.

"I know what you are thinking.'' He said, "But my dragon has a special ability. I can discard one card from my hand and destroy all face-up monsters in your side of the field!'' He looked at his hand and smiled at the card he was about to send to the graveyard in order to activate his Armed Dargon's effect. "I discard Light and Darkness Dragon to destroy all monsters you control! Go, Ultimate Armed Destruction!''

As Chazz ditched his card, the Armed Dragon started breathing fire all over Aster's monsters, destroying them. "Now, my Armed Dragon level 10, attack Aster Phoenix directly! Static Orb Blast!''

**Chazz:**_2000 _**/ **0**/ **0**/ **1** - ****Aster:**_1400_**/ **1 **/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

Aster fell on his knees because of the barbarous physical attack he had just received and then looked at Chazz directly into his eyes. "You'll pay for this.'' He said.

"We'll see about that when I end my turn.'' Replied Chazz.

"Draw!'' Stated Aster.

**Chazz:**_2000 _**/ **0**/ **0**/ **1** - ****Aster:**_1400_**/ **2 **/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

"I place a face-down monster and end my turn.'' Aster said.

"That's all?'' Chazz was filled was joy, his wish of beating Aster was finally becoming true. "I draw!''

**Chazz:**_2000 _**/ **1**/ **0**/ **1** - ****Aster:**_1400_**/ **1 **/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

"I summon Chthonian Soldier in attack mode!'' A dark knight with armor only covering his thorax and head appeared on the field, holding what looked like a big scimitar and having red eyes that looked at Aster fiercely. (1200/1400/4/Warrior/DARK)

'_Now, if I recall correct,' _thought Chazz, _'He had a Diamond-Dude in his hand. That monster had 1600 defense points… while my chthonian soldier only has 1200… Well then I guess I should attack with Armed Dragon Level 10 first and then directly with Chthonian emperor.'_

"Alright Aster, I attack your face-down monster with my Armed Dragon level 10!'' Chazz ordered. "Static Orb Blast!''

As the armed dragon tackled with strength the opposing monster, it was flipped face up, revealing a monster Chazz hadn't expected: Destiny Hero –Fear Monger. (1000/1000/4/Warrior/DARK)

It was destroyed as soon as the blades of the Armed Dragon touched it, shattering it into pieces. Then Chazz continued, "I attack with Chtonian Soldier to your life points directly!''

The warrior moved quickly towards Aster, slashing his body and making him bend forwards, grunting.

"I end my turn.'' Chazz said as Aster drew his new card.

**Chazz:**_2000 _**/ **0**/ **0**/ **3** - ****Aster:**_200_**/ **2 **/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

Aster looked at the card he had just drawn, and smiled at it weakly. Then he looked at his field, and realized something. His face darkened for a moment, which didn't let Chazz see his eyes. When he raised his head once again, Chazz saw a smile and eyes that he didn't like one bit. They were telling him the duel was over.

"Chazz, since it's my standby phase, and you have destroyed by battle my Destiny Hero – Fear Monger last turn, I can now Special summon a Destiny Hero Monster from my graveyard, like my Destiny Hero – Captain Tenacious.''

The old Destiny Hero rose again, for the third and last time in that duel, ready to do whatever Aster commanded him to do. (800/800/3/Warrior/DARK)

"Next up, I'll activate the effect of my Destiny Hero – Malicious. I can remove it from play in my graveyard so I can summon another copy of it from my deck!''

The furious warrior with the face of a demon appeared on the field, having low attack points despite its high level. (800/800/6/Warrior/DARK)

"And, since I haven't normal summoned yet… Well, you should know one of the two cards in my hand is my third Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude'' He said as he summoned his third hero. (1400/1600/4/Warriror/DARK)

Chazz was getting impatient. "And now what? What is that one card in your hand going to do? I have 2000 life points. You may be able to destroy my Armed Dragon with a card such as Smashing Ground, but, if you try to destroy my Chthonian Soldier by battle, you'll lose, since you also take damage when it is destroyed.''

Aster smiled. "But… what if you lose before it gets destroyed?''

Chazz looked at Aster, stoned. "But… my Armed Dragon level 10…''

Aster's smirk didn't wear off as he said, "Your Armed Dragon is going to help me win this duel, Chazz Princeton. I sacrifice my Destiny Heroes Diamond dude, Captain Tenacious, and Malicious in order to special summon Destiny Hero - Plasma!''

A huge, skinny warrior appeared on the field, having the skin of a crimson dragon as an armor covering it, with two dark wings and a dark-blue tail, having a mouth full of sharp teeth where his right hand should have been. (1900/600/8/Warrior/DARK)

Chazz knew this was it. Destiny Hero – Plasma was Aster's best monster, everyone knew it. He didn't stand a chance against it.

"First of all, Chazz, my monster negates all of your effects that activate on the field.'' Aster said. "Normally, that would be useful, but your Chthonian soldier's effect activates on the graveyard, after I destroy it and inflict damage to you, so I guess it doesn't matter. But what you should really have in your mind is Plasma's other special ability. I can absorb one of your monsters, and then my Hero will gain attack equal to half the absorbed monster. Now plasma, Absorb his Armed Dragon Level 10!''

As Plasma took the Armed Dragon and sucked it inside of its wings, its attack points rose. (3400/600/8/Warrior/DARK)

Chazz couldn't believe what was happening. He was in control of the duel a little bit ago, he had in his hand the opportunity to fulfill the dream he had always hoped for… But it was long gone now, since he knew he had no chance against that powerful monster. He tilted his head down, and tears started going down his face. He didn't even pay attention to Aster's attack order. When Plasma dropped its vengeful rain on Chazz's Chthonian soldier the force of the attack made him fall back, adding physical pain to the mental one he was feeling already. It was all over.

**Chazz:**_0000 _**- ****Aster:**_200_**/ **0 **/ **_1 _**/**_ 1_

**A/N: It doesn't really matter, but I want to point out that the card in Aster's spell and trap card zone is the Armed Dragon level 10, which goes there because of Plasma's effect.**

"Ladies and Gentlemen, what a duel!'' Yelled the commentator. "Both players ended up with no cards in their hands, and only one monster stands on the field! The duel has gone from the hands of one person to the other, in order for Aster to win with only 200 lifepoints and one monster left! Ladies and Gentlemen, what a duel! This is the Duel Time, and we are happy to give Aster his entrance for the Ultimate Championship!''

As the presenter said those words, a door was open, and a young lady holding a plate with a letter in it came in, and walked passed Chazz like he wasn't there, towards Aster. He reached his hand to get the letter, when a voice was heard all over the stage.

"Josh, this is the Producing Director.'' Said the voice.

The presenter looked up and asked. "What is it? We were about to give Aster the ticket to go the championship…''

"Don't do it.'' The director cut him. "We have a new challenger. If Aster Phoenix wants to go to the Ultimate tournament, then he'll have to face Zane Truesdale, and win. If not, Zane will go to those championships.''

No one talked for what looked like an eternity, until Josh coughed and said: "Well, you all have heard that! Tune up for this duel Sunday morning to see Zane Truesdale, the Kaiser, duel against Aster Phoenix!''

Everyone yelled: even Fujimaru, Sean, Mara, Ashley and Rob, who were watching the show at that moment. Even Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey stopped training for a moment in order to see what was going on. Everyone was so excited, no one noticed something was missing. Or, better said, someone. Chazz Princeton was not on stageanymore.


	7. Chapter 7

Facebook status about how you wanted to keep reading last night.

**And here is the new chapter, sorry about being slow, I had a 5k race for the 4****th**** of July and I'm also re-reading all the Harry Potter books for like the twentieth time in my life, (if you haven't read them close this fanfiction, go to the closest book store and buy them all, or at least read them on the internet) But don't worry I'll keep working on this.**

**Also, I'm editing the older chapters, and I'm moving to a new house, so I don't have internet access most time.**

**And remember, if you don't know one of the cards here go to .com/wiki/Main_Page and look for their image and effect there.**

**Forbidden and Limited List: Advanced Format March 2010**

**Chapter 7 – The Forbidden Duelists**

It was a pretty cold Sunday morning, but not even the low temperatures turned off the heated hearts of all the fans that were going to watch the duel between Aster and Zane. No one had seen Chazz Princeton since his defeat Friday afternoon, but almost nobody cared. One of the few people that did care was Mr. Log, Sean's math teacher, who was now reading the newspaper with apprehension, as it had the duel report, which he had read about three times already.

On the other hand, Aster Phoenix was very excited about his duel that night; he knew Zane Truesdale could easily beat him if he let his guard down. But he also knew that he could be beaten, since Aster had defeated him some years ago. As he passed through the cards in his deck, checking them one by one with extreme attention, he didn't notice how the door of his hotel room was opened slowly and soundlessly, with a shadow entering the habitation through it. The shadow belonged to a hooded person holding a duel disk, who waited some seconds until his young, male voice said:

''Time for a shadow game.''

As Aster turned back, all he saw was darkness. In a moment, he was surrounded by shadows, and all he had was his duel-disk, with his deck placed in it, even though he'd had it in his hand a second ago. The unknown man didn't even wait to start the duel.

**Aster:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****Unknown:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''In a shadow game, the challenged one goes first.'' The hooded one said as Aster's duel disk told him to go.

''I don't know who you are,'' Aster stated, ''but I'll find out after I defeat you at your own game!'' He drew a card.

**Aster:**_8000 _**/ **_6 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****Unknown:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''I summon Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude!'' Aster said putting his card on the duel-disk.

A man in dark attire appeared his arms, legs and back having pure diamond sticking out, and his hair being white. He had a green cloak that locked pretty old, and having diamond covering his eyes. (1400/1600/4/Warrior/DARK)

''Next I activate its special ability!''

Since this was a shadow game, Aster didn't feel like explaining Diamond Dude's effect. The duel-disk revealed the top card in his deck, being Destiny Draw. Aster smiled and placed it on his graveyard, knowing that he would get a +2 next turn, assuring his victory. He then placed a face-down card and ended his turn. The other person drew a card.

**Aster:**_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_1_** - ****Unknown:**_8000 _**/ **_6 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''Even though you sent Destiny Draw to the graveyard, Aster,'' the unknown one said slowly, ''you're not gonna use its effect.''

''Say what?'' Asked Aster stranged.

''I play the spell card, Bait Doll. Now I can force the activation of one of your face-down cards. .'' He said as a magic was activated, with a voodoo doll within it, surrounded by nails and a hammer with a blade in it. The doll was put in front of the face-down card, which was activated.

Aster looked at his activated card. ''But this card can't be activated now!'' He said looking at his D – Counter.

''That's a shame then,'' his opponent said, ''because if it's timing it's incorrect, the card is destroyed.''

The hammer hit the card, destroying it with an explosion.

Aster looked at his field. ''Darn…'' he muttered, ''now I don't have any traps to protect me…''

''Which will lead to my victory.'' Finished the other. ''I activate Brain Control. I pay 800 life points to take control of your monster until the end of the turn.''

A brain with hands took Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude to the opposite side of the field, but it didn't last long.

''Next I sacrifice your own monster in order to summon the Great Maju Garzett!'' A huge, red demon, having really long blond hair and powerful blue arms was summoned, and its head had to dark-looking horns (2800/0/6/Fiend/DARK). ''Its attack is equal to double the attack of the monster I sacrificed to summon him.''

Aster looked with apprehension at the powerful demon in front of it. This guy was not an amateur…

''That's not all, Aster.'' The other one said. ''I now activate the equip spell card megamorph, which, when equipped to a monster, if I have less life points than you do, the monster's attack will double.''

As an ancient stone appeared on the demon's forehead, its size became twice the previous one, and its yellow eyes glowed with even more intensity. (5600/0/6/Fiend/DARK).

Aster couldn't believe this was happening. More than half of his life points were going to be wiped out on the first turn… but now his opponent only had two cards in his hand, so Aster would just summon his Destiny Hero –Doomlord next turn and remove the opposing fiend from play.

A smirk could be seen through the other person's hood. ''And, to end this… I activate the spell Dark Fusion!''

This couldn't be happening… Aster knew that card. Jaden had used it when he was under the control of the supreme king, and that powerful card was able to summon one of the mightiest heroes ever created…

''I fuse my Great Maju Garzett along with Grammarg the Rock Monarch in my hand!'' He said as a huge monster with an armor made of brown stone and two powerful arms appeared next to the Great Maju Garzett. (2400/1000/6/Rock/EARTH); flames then burned the mentioned monsters. "In a corrupted world as the one we live in, only the most powerful between all the evil ones shall prevail. Fuse Summon! Show me your power, Evil Hero Dark Gaia!''

The infamous demon made of stone came from the flames that the dark fusion had made, with powerful claws and giant wings, giving a look of might to Aster as he quivered in fear. (8000/0/8/Fiend/DARK)

As soon as the monster flew up high on the dark, Aster knew it was all over. 8000 attack points was exactly the life points he had, which meant… He had lost.

''Evil Hero dark Gaia, attack directly and finish him off!'' Ordered the hooded one.

Dark Gaia fell at an incredible speed, crushing Aster Phoenix, and sending his soul to the shadow realm.

When this happened, the shadows left, and the room came back to normal, with the exception of the sole inhabitant. The hooded one then bent over where Aster duel-disk was and took his deck. Right after that, he searched around for some time, until he found a second deck, which he put in his pocket along with the other one. Once the job was done, he left the room in order to do the next part of his task.

This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be real. All hope Chazz ever had of becoming the king of games… gone. He didn't even get the chance to go to the Ultimate Championship, and all he believed in had been crushed. All his cards were spread over the floor, without any care. Desperation was the only thing in Chazz's head until the door was knocked.

''I don't wanna see anyone at this moment!'' Chazz yelled from inside the room.

The door was knocked again.

''I told you to leave me alone!''

This time, the door wasn't knocked. Instead, it was opened without permission, and through it entered a person Chazz had never seen before. He was athletic looking, tall, with brownish hair, and had a smile in his tanned face, which held two dark-brown eyes and a smirk.

''Hello, Chazz Princeton,'' he said politely, ''you don't know me, but I know you. My name is John Casler. I have come because I heard you lost the duel of your life, and…''

''Shut up and leave!'' Exclaimed Chazz, despite John's educated manners.

John continued as if he hadn't been interrupted: ''And I offer you the opportunity you need to become not just a great duelist, but the greatest one.''

Even though that last phrase had caught Chazz's attention, he didn't believe it, ''Oh, then why don't you become the greatest duelist, huh? I'm not that stupid.''

John looked down gloomily. He was quiet for a few seconds, until he said in a really low tone, ''My father… He knows I can be a great duelist, but he doesn't think I can be the best duelist. That's why I'm here. He wants you to be it.''

Chazz was surprised at that answer, and his voice tone softened, ''But… why me?''

John was still looking at the floor when he answered, ''Because you have the spirits of Light and Darkness Dragon and Armed Dragon lvl 7 with you.''

Chazz was impressed. He looked back at the two mentioned cards, when he realized something. ''Why level 7? The strongest version is Armed Dragon level 10.''

John looked up at Chazz. ''Because Armed Dragon level 10 is not a normal evolution. It was created by a virus, reason why you can only summon him by sacrificing Armed Dragon level 7 on your side of the field. Didn't you ever find that weird?''

''Now that you ask…'' Chazz looked around for his Armed Dragon Level 10, which was next to one of the couches, and looked at it. ''It is kind of weird…''

''But that's not the point, Chazz.'' John continued. ''I can make you the strongest duelist ever… You first have to take these two decks.''

Chazz looked at the cards John had given him with incredulity. ''Wait, these cards..'' He said passing them one by one. ''They are all Aster's! Not only his destiny Heroes, but also the cards he got from a random booster pack when he went to Duel Academy, including Archlord Zerato and some Fairies!''

''You don't have to take them all, Chazz. Only a few of them will actually work well in your future deck.''

Chazz was getting mad. ''But I don't want to win with stolen cards! Return them now!'' He said tending them towards John.

John didn't even move. ''It looks like you're a real loser.''

''I am not!'' Chazz replied. ''Plus, even if I used this cards, I still wouldn't be the greatest duelist ever as you said!''

John negated with his head and said, ''Well, you also have to choose a side.''

Chazz opened his eyes wide and looked directly at John ''what do you mean by that?'' He asked in a suspicious tone.

John smiled, knowing that his work here was coming to an end. ''Look at your Light and Darkness Dragon.'' Chazz picked it up from the floor and did as John said.

''Now what?'' He asked.

''Now, Chazz, Light and Darkness Dragon has two parts, as well as your heart: Light and Dark. You need to choose one of the two sides, and your heart, as well as your cards, will give into that side.''

Chazz kept looking at the card. His heart giving into a side? That didn't sound too good, plus he had stolen cards now… He shook his head and looked angrily as his card. He had been losing matches lately, and now he knew that he would never be able to duel the best duelists in the world. He knew what light did, since he had been controlled by the society of light…. and still lost. He needed a newborn power that would make him the best duelist ever… Now he knew what John meant. And now he knew what his heart should do.

''I choose… Darkness!''

''Can I? Please…'' Sean pledged for the tenth time

''Alright,'' Solomon answered with tiredness in his voice, ''but you can just bring your close friends.''

''Yeah!'' Sean exclaimed as he ran for the phone, even though he was exhausted from the previous duels he'd been doing. He dialed Mara's number.

''Yes?'' Asked the voice of a mature woman on the other side of the line.

''Mrs. Gulhill?'' he responded. ''This is Sean. Is Mara over there?''

''No, she isn't home at this moment. It's weird, I thought she was with you, since…''

''What?'' Sean was stunned, ''with me? Where?''

''Well, she said something about going with her friends to qualify for the regional tournament here in Domino City, she's been working on that all week…''

Sea n didn't talk for some seconds, and then he said, ''Ok, thanks.'' He then hanged the phone and went straight to where Solomon was. ''Hey,'' he started, ''what do you know about the Ultimate Championship qualifiers in Domino city that you haven't told me?''

''All that you haven't asked.'' The old Muto answered with a laugh.

''Would you mind talking about it now?''

''Well,'' Solomon explained, ''as far as I know, only high scholars can go, since there are so many good dueling schools around here in domino city, and Kaiba wants only one student duelist in the Ultimate Championship; more would be unprofessional, and none would make the crowds hate him for not giving a chance to every kind of person. There are also going to be 8 places, with two of them closed, and the others open for people who qualify in local tournaments all over Domino city this past week.''

''What!'' Sean's respiration started to get hard. ''But I haven't even gone to qualify! How am I supposed to…''

''Don't worry Sean,'' calmed him Solomon, ''you'll be fine. I told you there were two closed places, right? Well, one of them is John's, and guess who's the other one…''

Sean then remembered how John had given him a ticket to go to the regional qualifiers… And then he realized that meant he didn't have to do the local qualifiers.

''Oh…'' he muttered, ''I get it now…''

''And now that you get it,'' said Solomon taking his duel-disk out. ''before tonight's Aster vs. Zane, you have to get the rest of the cards. You're at 33 right now, and, even though you've won about 50 duels by now…''

''Yeah, I still loose sometimes and you take one of my cards.'' Sean finished the phrase with impatience.

''Duel!'' The both yelled.

The room was completely dark, and no sound was heard within it. It looked like there was no one, and the shadows were as perfect as the silence in that room. But the perfection was broken by the sound of a phone ringing.

''Yes?'' said a slow, hollow voice on the room.

''I've got him.'' Responded John's voice on the other side of the line. ''It's all done, even extra DARK cards were made in his transformation.''

''Let me talk to him.'' The one in the room ordered.

''Yes, sir.''

Seconds passed slowly in the darkness until Chazz's voice was heard through the phone.

''Thank you,'' were the first two words he said, ''for giving me all this power… Now I'll do all you say, sir.''

Even though it was dark, a smirk was made in the face of the room's inhabitant. ''I want you to duel Zane Truesdale tonight. I have arranged things with Dr. Crawler so you can do so.''

''Dr. Crawler is with us?'' Chazz sounded a little surprised. ''But he's a wimp…''

''I know that,'' stated the other, ''but I still need him for lots of other things, and trust me, I'll get rid of him once all this is over.''

''Alright, sir.''

''No problem, Chazz.'' The one in the room responded. ''By the way, do you like the DARK touch your cards have now?''

''Yes, sir,'' answered Chazz, ''but, what happened to the other half of the deck? The LIGHT part?''

''I'll have it with me for future uses.'' The other answered. ''Now go, Chazz.''

''41!'' Sean yelled as he looked at all his cards. ''Only one more duel!''

''It'll be more than one if you don't concentrate!'' Solomon yelled, turning on his duel-disk again and not letting Sean rest.

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **_5 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****Solomon:**_4000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''Technically you're the challenger, since you want the cards,'' said Solomon, ''so go ahead.''

''Draw!'' Sean said as he did.

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **_6 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****Solomon:**_4000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''I summon Evolvector Chevalier to my side of the field!'' Sean said with enthusiasm as a burning warrior with a sword and red armor appeared on the field. (1900/1200/4/Warrior/FIRE)

''Next I'll place a face-down and end my turn!''

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **_1_** - ****Solomon:**_4000 _**/ **_6 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''Not bad, kid.'' Solomon congratulated him. ''One face-down card can be good if your opponent has a heavy storm, but it can't stop a well placed Mystical Space Typhoon!'' He said as a spell containing a tornado was activated. The spell then went were the face-down card was, in order to destroy it.

''I figured you'd play something like that,'' Sean said with a smile, ''reason why I chain my face-down Threatening Roar! Now the chain resolves in the opposite order, since this is Chain Link two, and your Typhoon is chain link one, my cards resolves first, and then yours does. And my Threatening Roar doesn't let you declare an attack this turn.''

Solomon smiled. ''Good job Sean. This way, not only you have stopped me from doing an attack and basically starting the duel, but also you have maintained card advantage, since we both have the same number of cards now.''

''Wow, thanks, you make it sound a lot more cool than it actually is.'' Sean's face was as red as the flames coming out from his monster.

''You are welcome. Now I summon my Card trooper.'' A blue robot with red canons instead of hands was summoned, having a bright light on its head and wheels below its body. (400/400/3/Machine/EARTH)

''Next I activate its special ability.'' Solomon stated, ''I send the top three cards from my deck to the graveyard, and this monster will gain 500 ATK for each, until the end of the turn.'' (1900/400/3/Machine/EARTH) ''Now, Sean,'' he continued, ''this is free graveyard advantage, since when card trooper gets destroyed I draw one card. This way I lose no cards, but I gain three cards in my graveyard.'' He said as he put a face-down card an ended his turn, so Sean drew a card.

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **_5 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_1_** - ****Solomon:**_4000 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 1_

Sean looked at his hand, and then at is Evolvector Chevalier. It was weird… All this past days, the cards that he'd been choosing looked powerful, but, right when they were summoned, their power was like… hidden somewhere. The Chevalier, for example, was a 1900 ATK point monster that had a powerful effect… or so thought Sean, because now it looked like a simple normal monster, with no effect.

Solomon smiled. He knew what kind of cards Sean had been choosing, and he didn't choose those cards, the cards chose him. If what Mr. Muto was thinking was correct, then Sean really was one of the chosen ones…

''Uh…'' muttered Sean looking at his hand, and he chose a monster that looked powerful enough, ''I summon Blazewing Butterfly in attack mode!''

A big butterfly with wings filled with fire appeared on the skies, and then it landed next to the Chevalier. (1500/1200/4/Insect/FIRE)

But, right when it hit the field, all power that it looked to have was gone. ''Oh, come on, not again.''

Solomon had to hold a smirk to ask, ''What is it, Sean?''

''It's my monsters,'' he said, ''I thought they had a special ability, but, right when they hit the field, they…''

''Become weak?'' A deep voice said behind Sean. He then turned around and saw Yugi looking at the cards in his hand. ''Oh..'' he murmured, ''I think I know what kind of cards you're using…''

''Really?'' Asked Sean.

''Yes. And don't worry, they are not weak. They are just hiding their powers… but you have to learn how to unleash them. Until then… just win the duel and complete your deck.''

''Alright,'' he said, ''I attack with my Evolvector Chevalier to your Card Trooper!''

''Nice, but not good enough, Sean.'' Solomon replied, '' I active my trap card, Dimensional Prison! You'll also see this card a lot in tournaments, Sean. It basically removes from play the attacking monster.''

''Oh, no! My warrior!'' Sean exclaimed as a dimensional fissure appeared in front of his monster and gulped it. He then looked at his butterfly. ''Well, I still have this… I attack with my Blazewing Butterfly!''

The insect flapped its wings towards the robot, and fire came out of it as the machine was melted and destroyed.

''But now I get to draw a card.'' Solomon reminded him.

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **4**/**_ 0 _**/ **_1_** - ****Solomon:**_2900 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''I place a face-down card and end my turn.'' Sean then said.

''Alright, draw!'

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **3**/**_ 1 _**/ **_1_** - ****Solomon:**_2900 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''I summon Phantom Beast Wild Horn!'' Solomon stated as a two-legged moose with red clothing covering its hips, shoulders, and arms came to the field holding a vicious-looking sword. ''And since I have Phantom Beast Cross Wing in my graveyard, it gains 300 attack points.'' (2000/0/4/Beast-Warrior/EARTH) ''Phantom Beast Wild Horn, attack Sean's Blazewing Butterfly!''

The moose slashed its sword, cutting the insect in half and destroying it.

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **3**/**_ 1 _**/ **_0_** - ****Solomon:**_2900 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''I put a face-down card and end my turn.'' Solomon finished.

''Ok then, draw!''

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **4**/**_ 1 _**/ **_0_** - ****Solomon:**_2900 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''What the…'' Sean was looking at his hand, stunned. ''When did this get here?''

''What do you mean?'' Solomon seemed to be interested, even though he knew that his training was finally worth it.

''This monster…'' Sean couldn't believe it. Then, he smiled and said, ''This duel is over! I activate my spell card, Swing of Memories! This lets me revive my Evolvector Chevalier and summon him into the field!'' The Chevalier was summoned, and he unsheathed his sword, ready to fight. ''It's funny… I thought this guy was an effect monster, but Swing of Memories only revives normal monsters…''

''Which demonstrates that little wimp won't be able to touch my life points…'' Solomon said.

''He won't, but this new guy sure will!'' Sean was excited. ''I sacrifice my Evolvector Chevalier in order to summon Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch!''

As soon as he said that, Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey looked at the duel Sean was having. A flaming monster was summoned, having a red armor full of flames, and a red cloak behind him. He had a majestic look to it, and, when he was summoned, a flame appeared in his hand.

''And now for its special ability!'' Sean said. ''I can discard one card from your hand, and, if it is a monster, you lose life points equal to its level X100!''

A flame appeared in one of Solomon's cards, and, when he discarded it, the graveyard burned him.

**Sean:**_4000 _**/ **2**/**_ 1 _**/ **_1_** - ****Solomon:**_2200 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''You're lucky...'' muttered Solomon, ''I had to discard my Phantom Beast Rock Lizard.''

''It's over now, Mr. Muto.'' Sean stated. ''I activate my trap card, Spirit of Fire Art – Kurenai!''

''Again!'' Exclaimed Solomon, tired, ''you've used that card in like… 20 of our duels!''

''Well, this is the last one now!'' Sean said as his monster was turned into flames that burned Solomon's life points.

If Sean thought drawing a card he didn't put in his deck was weird, then what he saw later got him stoned. Even though Solomon had just been holographically burned, he had the biggest smile in his face Sean had ever seen.

''YES!'' He exclaimed as Yugi went where he was to help him up, ''Sean is the one in the prophecy!''

''What prophecy?'' Sean asked.

''The one about the 7 Kings of the Duel Monster's World, Sean!''

''Oh, that one… Wait, you mean the monarchs?''

''Yes, I do. I'll tell you more about it once I find the book in which we have stuff about them written…''

Sean couldn't even move. Monarchs… He'd seen one before. And not in a place he liked.

''So…'' he asked, ''if we had the seven monarchs, we would be able to stop the three punishments?''

''Yes.'' Answered Solomon, ''that's not what the prophecy says, though, but I'm sure that, if we had their powers, then we would be able to stop them. After all, they're the ones that talked with the Egyptians and made a pact with them thousands of years ago.''

''Mr. Muto…'' Sean murmured, ''we have a problem. John has Grammarg, the Rock Monarch.''

''What?'' Solomon was stunned, ''but the prophecy said it would be the one that'll make the strongest monster.''

Sean said gloomily. ''John uses him in order to summon Evil Hero Dark Gaia.''

''So our enemy already has a Forbidden Duelist, one holding a monarch, on his side…''

''But, Mr. Muto,'' Sean seemed like he had an idea, ''if we beat John, we could take his Rock Monarch, right?''

''Sean, if you win a duel, a card from the other person will belong to you, but you still have to take it from him. If you don't take that card from him (which is the normal thing now days) then that card will belong to him again after some days pass if he keeps using it. That's the normal case scenario, but with monarchs is different: Monarchs cannot be stolen or won in a duel. They are with a person through all his life.''

Sean looked at his monarch, but it wasn't there anymore. ''Where is it?'' He asked.

''Well, notice how I said it was all different with monarchs. They don't belong to you, they just come and help you when you really need them. In your case, all the training you've done made Thestalos appear and show up as the monarch on your side. But you were destined for it anyways: It would have showed up sooner or later.''

''Mr. Muto…'' Sean was now looking at him directly, ''what's there that you haven't told me about all this?''

Solomon sighed. ''Nothing much. About the Monarchs, the only thing I haven't told is that you should not let them get destroyed, and use them as soon as possible when you draw them. Also remember that Monarch is not supposed to be the heart of your deck, and will just come out to help you. It won't always be used to win, but the advantage they'll give you will certainly be a big one.''

''How about our 'enemy'? How is he being controlled if Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey have the three cards?''

''About that, the Spirits of the cards talk to him. They may belong to Yugi, Seto, and Joey, but they are so powerful that they can still control others, after all, they bonded with the Forbidden Duelist holding that monarch from thousands of years ago.''

''Oh…'' finally, Sean was understanding all that was happening around him. He just wished that his friends wouldn't be involved… ''But that means our enemy is also a forbidden duelist, right?''

''Obviously.'' Answered Solomon.

''Alright… We'll just have to beat all Forbidden Duelists and un-corrupt them!'' Sean said loudly.

Solomon smiled. ''I like you're positive thinking, Sean, but…''

The TV was then heard through the garden, as it had been turned on by Yugi inside the house. ''And now, ladies and gentlemen, let's get ready to duel! Since Aster Phoenix is not able to duel Zane, by the request of our Producing Director and Dr. Crawler, Chazz Princeton will duel him!''

Sean and the rest then stopped training and hurried to the room in which Yugi was, stunned. They watched the show with apprehension as a newborn, dark Chazz walked through the stage with a black outfit with white lines in it. Right at that moment, Solomon knew they had a problem.

**What's your favorite monarch build? Level Eater Monarchs? Frognarchs? Perfect Cycle? Fromula Monarchs? Answer this question along with your review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry about taking so much time to upload, I've been on vacation, plus moving took some time.**

**I need to remind you guys that sometimes I change stuff in chapters: for example, chapter 1 has some stuff changed in it. The reason why is because I tend to review my chapters a lot. By the way, this is a beta version: I haven't corrected it. I'll upload the next chapter tomorrow because I still need to polish it. If you're wondering why tomorrow, it's because I'm Spanish, and it's almost 2 am here.**

**Oh, one more thing, I am aware the format has changed, and, in fact, this duel hasn't been hit at all by the new format, but a future chapter will use the March format (the rest will use the new, August one, since I don't have the duels for everyone written down)**

**And here we go! Chazz vs. Zane! **

**Forbidden and Limited List: Advanced Format March 2010**

**Chapter 8 – The Power of Darkness**

Sean looked at the TV with apprehension. The new Chazz had an appearance that made everyone in the room quiet, and then whispers could be heard where the people were sitting. Sean looked at the other people in the room looking for an answer, but even Seto was looking at the TV with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Sean then decided to ask later, when the duel had finished.

''Ladies and gentlemen!'' the presenter started, ''welcome to Duel Time! Today we'll have a very important duel, not just because of the duelists participating in it, but also because it will decide who goes to the Ultimate Championship!''

The whispers stopped, giving room to incredibly loud cheers that sounded like an explosion. Without letting the sound of the people yelling go off, the presenter kept going:

''And now for our two participants! At my right, we have the one that showed an incredible amount of skill in the last duel, summoning the Armed Dragon Level 10 in one turn and almost winning against Aster Phoenix! Let's hear a big applause for… Chazz Princeton!''

If Chazz heard the presenter, no one noticed it, because the calm expression on his face didn't change, and the commentator looked at him stunned. He then coughed and kept going:

''And, at my left, we have one of the best duelists in the whole world! Holding powerful Cyber Machines and even more deadly fusion monsters, let's hear that cheer for Zane Truesdale!''

Unlike Chazz, Zane did smile, even though he did no other sign on being mentioned. The commentator smiled and said:

''Well, now that we're all ready, let's start the duel!'' As he said those words, the huge screen was turned on, showing the following:

**Chazz:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****Zane:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''I draw.'' Chazz said calmly. ''I now put a face-down monster and a face-down card. Now it's your turn, Truesdale.''

The crowd didn't say a thing, looking at Zane, whose turn was about to start. He drew a card, and looked at Chazz with determination.

**Chazz:**_8000 _**/ **4**/**_ 1 _**/ **_1_** - ****Zane:**_8000 _**/ **_6 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''When you control a monster and I control none,'' he stated, ''I can special summon Cyber Dragon from my hand!'' A metallic serpent-like dragon was summoned really quick, looking at Chazz with eyes that would scare anyone, even though he didn't even flinch. (2100/1600/5/Machine/LIGHT)

''Next, Chazz,'' Zane said picking another card in his hand, ''I summon Cyber Phoenix in attack mode!'' This time, a bird-like machine, with four wings and red stripes on some parts of its body was summoned. The metallic wings had red feathers made of iron at its ends, and the monster possessed two green spheres instead of knees. (1200/1600/4/Machine/FIRE)

Now that Zane had two monsters on his side of the field, he continued with a strong voice that denoted a huge determination: ''Now I attack with my Cyber Phoenix to your face-down monster!''

As the phoenix approached it, the monster was flipped, and it revealed purple train with a face on the front part. The face had red eyes and two big fangs on its mouth, making it frightening. (1400/1000/4/Machine/DARK)

Even though his monster was about to be destroyed, when the train was flipped, it started to expel smoke from the chimney, and that's when Chazz said: ''Well done Zane, that's what I expected. When Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive is flipped face up, I can draw a card. So you waste an attack, while I lose no card advantage!''

As the phoenix to tear apart the train, Zane looked at Chazz directly. ''Card advantage?'' He asked with incredulity. ''I never thought you cared about something like that, Chazz. You used to be the one that used three to four cards to summon your Armed Dragon Level 10. What happened to you?''

Chazz didn't answer, but, back in mr. Muto's training house, Sean looked back at Solomon. ''Zane is right,'' he expressed, ''last time, Chazz used three cards to summon two monster in his first duel, remember?''

A smile could be seen in Solomon's face. ''It looks like you learn fast, kid. Plus, he overextended his field, leaving him vulnerable to that lightning vortex Aster played.''

''By the looks of this duel, he's not the only one that learns fast.'' Kaiba said without moving his eyes from the TV. ''This Chazz guy… two days have passed since his other duel, and he's changed this much?''

No one answered as they kept looking at the TV with apprehension. There, Zane had attacked directly with his Cyber Dragon, and then ended his turn, so, after Chazz had drawn, the big screen on tip of the two duelists now said:

**Chazz:**_5900 _**/ **6**/**_ 1 _**/ **0** - ****Zane:**_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 2_

''As you should know,'' started Chazz, ''a big duel needs big plays… so I'll start my turn with the rare card allure of darkness. This lets me draw two cards from my deck, and then remove from play a DARK monster from my hand.''

When Chazz played that card, the crowd started talking out loud, and some even yelled: ''You thief! That was Aster's card'' ''Yeah, now we know why he wasn't able to duel today!''

The presenter took the microphone and try to silence them, ''Please everyone, this is the middle of a duel. Allure of Darkness may be a rare card, but there are more than one copies of it in the world.''

Chazz acted as if he didn't hear anyone yelling. ''And now that I have drawn two cards,'' he continued, ''I remove from play Armaggedon knight from my hand. But he won't be gone long, because I activate my trap card, Escape From the Dark Dimension! ''

When he activated his trap, a dimensional hole appeared on the field. ''This lets me special summon a DARK monster that has been removed from play, such as my Armaggedon Knight!''

As he said that, a dark warrior came through the dimensional hole. His armor was dark and full of cuts; he also wore a red scarf that covered the lower part of his face, while the upper part was covered by a pair of sunglasses and the abundant dark hair he had. In his right hand, he held a sword with a round handle, having a metal bar with spikes on it. (1400/1200/4/Warrior/DARK)

Back on the room where Sean was, Yugi and Solomon exchanged a quick look when they saw the monster Chazz had just summoned. Solomon nodded, and then they went back to watching the TV. There, Zane watched the warrior with a surprised look that didn't go unseen by Chazz, who said, ''Cool, huh? Well, it's special ability it's even better. When it is summoned, I can send one DARK monster from my deck to the graveyard.''

Murmurs and whispers started to sound where the spectators where, and, before the presenter could say anything about how useless could that be, Zane intervened, ''Nice… free graveyard advantage, huh?''

Chazz smiled as he responded. ''Good to know you understand my playing. Now I can send Necro Gardna to my graveyard… for later use.''

Zane kept looking at Chazz with indifference as he said, ''So, I'm guessing you're gonna tribute it now, right? You didn't special summon a weak monster for nothing.''

Chazz smiled. ''You guessed right Truesdale, because I tribute my monster to summon Brain Golem!''

The reason it was called golem wasn't as obvious as the other part of its name, brain. The monster was a gigantic orange cerebrum with eyes randomly placed on it, and with two long arms coming out of two of its sides. The hands were deformed and creepy, and the monster had a powerful look despite the fact that it was a brain. (2500/1800/6/Fiend/DARK).

Zane didn't move as Chazz ordered the Brain Golem to attack his Cyber Dragon, who got destroyed by the monster's powerful arms.

**Chazz:**_5900 _**/ **5**/**_ 0 _**/ **1** - ****Zane:**_7600 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''But that's not all,'' Chazz explained, ''when my Brain Golem destroys a LIGHT attribute monster it is able to attack once again in row!'' He said as the golem strangled Zane's Cyber Phoenix and ripped with strength. The phoenix exploded, and the expansive way it created hit Zane, who flinched.

**Chazz:**_5900 _**/ **5**/**_ 0 _**/ **1** - ****Zane:**_6300 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''Chazz Princeton,'' Zane said, ''don't forget that when my phoenix is destroyed via battle while in attack mode, I can draw one card.''

Chazz raised an eyebrow. ''Not bad,'' he admitted, ''we'll see how you do now that I end my turn.''

Zane drew a card.

**Chazz:**_5900 _**/ **5**/**_ 0 _**/ **1** - ****Zane:**_6300 _**/ **_6 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''I summon Proto Cyber Dragon in attack mode!'' Zane said as a metallic serpent with cables connected in all its body appeared. The cables the started to run electricity and the image of the Cyber Dragon appeared over the little metallic serpent. (1100/600/3/Machine/LIGHT) ''As you can see,'' he continued, ''my Proto Cyber Dragon is treated as a Cyber Dragon while it is face-up on the field, reason why I can activate the spell Evolution Burst! This lets me destroy a card on the field if I have a face-up cyber dragon, but it can't attack this turn.'' The little prototype opened its mouth and white flames came out of it, destroying Chazz's Brain Golem.

''Now I place a face-down card and end my turn.'' Aster finished.

''I draw!'' Chazz shouted.

**Chazz:**_5900 _**/ **6**/**_ 0 _**/ **0** - ****Zane:**_6300 _**/ **_3 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 1_

''I summon Dark Resonator in attack mode!'' Chazz said as a little demon with a dark suit full of scratches appeared on the field. It had a helmet with two horns in it, as well as a red extension over the demon's shoulders. Its hands were holding a tuning fork and a stick with a blue ball at the end of it. (1300/300/DARK/Fiend/Tuner)

Zane looked at the monster that Chazz had just summoned and muttered, ''Wait…''

A smirk appeared on Chazz's face. ''Have you noticed, Zane?''

His opponent looked up to him. ''Yes,'' he answered, ''that monster has been exposed to radiation. It's a tuner monster.''

At that moment, a unanimous 'wow' could be heard on the crowd, and the commentator seemed to be too busy looking at the Dark Resonator.

''You're right,'' Chazz continued, ''but that doesn't mean I'm going to synchro summon anything. I'll just use it to attack your Proto-Cyber Dragon.''

As the fiend moved closer to the machine, Zane pushed a button in his duel-disk. ''I activate my trap, Dimensional Prison! This means your little tuner is going to be removed from play now!'' As he said this, a dimensional fissure appeared in front of the Dark Resonator, which got sucked into it.

Chazz kept smiling as if nothing had happened. ''I end my turn.'' He finished, so Zane drew.

**Chazz:**_5900 _**/ **5**/**_ 0 _**/ **0** - ****Zane:**_6300 _**/ **_4 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''Alright Chazz, enough playing around, it's time to end this duel.''

''Do you really think you can?''

''Why yes. I summon Cyber Dragon Zwei in attack mode.'' A third version of the Cyber Dragon was summoned, this one being thinner, longer, and with neon-green lines on some parts of its body. (1500/1000/4/Machine/LIGHT) ''This new version of my Cyber Dragon lets me reveal a spell card in my hand, such as Power Bond, in order to make its name be treated as Cyber Dragon for the rest of the turn.''

''Yeah, so?''

''So I can now fuse it along with my Proto-Cyber Dragon by activating Power Bond! This card acts as a polymerization for a machine-type monster, doubling the attack of the fusion summoned monster until the end of the turn! So I fuse my two 'Cyber Dragons' in order to fuse summon Cyber Twin Dragon!''

A two-headed Cyber Dragon appeared, having a much longer body that could hold the two head. (2800/2600/6/Machine/LIGHT) (5600/2600/6/Machine/LIGHT)

''Cyber Twin Dragon, direct attack!'' Ordered Zane.

As those words came out of his mouth, one of the heads launched a white laser, hitting Chazz directly. The crowd let out an exclamation for Chazz, as a direct 5600 points of damage isn't something one likes to experience. But, to everyone's surprise, after the attack, Chazz was standing up; with a grimace of pain and his eyes darker than ever, but standing on his feet.

**Chazz:**_300 _**/ **5**/**_ 0 _**/ **0** - ****Zane:**_6300 _**/ **_2 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 1_

Zane raised an eyebrow, a reaction much less extreme than Sean's.

''How the heck is he still standing!'' He asked without displacing his eyes from the TV.

''Mental endurance,'' Yugi answered, ''He knows he's not going to lose the duel, so that thought gives him the strength he needs to keep on dueling and, in this case, not falling to the floor by that attack.''

''But… he has no cards on his field to protect himself from the next attack!'' Sean was still watching the TV, stunned.

Yugi looked at the image of Chazz on the TV and responded, ''I have no idea, but by looking at his eyes I can tell he's not going to lose… at least not this turn.''

Back on the stage, Zane kept going. ''And now to finish this, I attack directly a second time with my Cyber Twin Dragon!

''I'm sorry, but you're attack won't go through, Truesdale!'' Chazz stated, ''By removing from play the Necro Gardna in my graveyard I can negate one of your attacks!''

As the dead warrior held one of the heads of the Cyber Twin Dragon from behind, the presenter was shouting like crazy, ''LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IT LOOKS LIKE CHAZZ'S STRATEGY OF SENDING HIS OWN MONSTER TO THE GRAVEYARD WORKED!''

On the other side of the TV, Solomon didn't sound as surprised. ''Graveyard manipulation,'' he said, ''everyone's going to do that in the Ultimate Championship.''

Yugi nodded as he kept watching the duel taking place at that moment.

''And now that is the end of my turn,'' Zane said as he set a new card, ''I receive damage equal to my Cyber Twin Dragon's original attack, all because of Power Bond.''

''And now's my turn!'' Chazz stated ignoring him and drawing a new card.

**Chazz:**_300 _**/ **6**/**_ 0 _**/ **0** - ****Zane:**_3500 _**/ **1 **/ **_2 _**/**_ 1_

''By discarding Destiny Hero – Malicious I can special summon Dark Grepher in attack mode!'' Chazz said with a strong voice.

The crowd started to whisper, and Zane looked at Chazz stranged. ''Wait, isn't that monster…''

''Warrior Dai Grepher who's turned into Darkness? Or are you asking for the Destiny Hero I just sent to the graveyard?''

''This is not looking good…'' Solomon muttered.

Sean turned around and looked at him. ''What is Chazz doing with a destiny Hero? What… What happened to Aster?''

''You aren't the only one wondering that.'' Kaiba pointed out without moving his eyes from the television. Sean looked back there and saw the faces of the crowd: Some were thinking, confused, and even mad.

Chazz kept going as if there hadn't been any reaction. ''And now I activate the spell Bait Doll!''

As he explained the effect of his spell card, Solomon muttered, ''Bait doll… I know someone who likes that card.''

The hammer flipped a spell card, so it wasn't destroyed. ''Oh, My Body as a Shield, huh?'' Chazz said, ''I know that card… you can pay 1500 life points to negate an effect that would destroy your monsters.''

''Yes,'' Zane responded, ''and you won't be able to touch my monster. Let me tell you, my other face-down is a second copy of My Body as a Shield.''

Chazz smiled. ''We'll see if that's true or not. Now that I have four DARK-attribute monsters with different names in my graveyard, which are my Armageddon Knight, Brain Golem, Dark Resonator, and Destiny-Hero Malicious, I can sacrifice one monster in order to summon my monster, Darklord Zerato!''

As the Dark Grepher was tribute, a huge monster with a demonic look appeared. It held a huge silver sword, and from its back two red-blood colored wings arose, giving it a look of might. The rest of its body had a dark purple color, and its head had a helmet of the same color as its wings. (2800/2300/8/Fairy/DARK)

''Now I activate its special ability!'' Chazz continued. ''By discarding one DARK-Attribute monster, I destroy all monsters on your side of the field!''

''Are you insane?'' Zane asked, ''I activate my quick-play spell card… My Body as a Shield!''

As a black ray came down from Zerato's sword, Zane moved in front of his Cyber Twin Dragon and deflected the ray to its owner with his own body, falling down to one knee.

**Chazz:**_300 _**/ **3**/**_ 0 _**/ **0** - ****Zane:**_2000 _**/ **1 **/ **_1 _**/**_ 1_

''You're weak.'' Chazz said as his own monster was destroyed by the deflected ray. ''You choose to fight in both paths. The Cyber Dragons are all LIGHT attribute… while your Cyberdarks are DARK attribute.''

''I… I can't fight with just one.'' Zane talked back while trying to stand on his feet. ''The Cybers… they are too weak. And the Cyberdarks… they make me weak.''

''You know what I think, Truesdale? I think you are too weak. Too weak to handle your Dark side.''

''What do you… mean about that?''

''I mean that you have to choose a side… like I did. By removing from play Destiny Hero – Malicious in my graveyard, I can special summon a second copy of it from my deck!''

The demonic-looking hero appeared on the field. (800/800/6/Warrior/DARK)

''And now, Truesdale, I activate the spell card Emergency Teleport! This lets me special summon a level 3 or lower psychic-type monster from my deck. Show yourself, Krebons!''

A clown-like monster came through a red hole that had just appeared on the floor, throwing data from a hand to another with a smile on its face. (1200/400/2/Psychic/DARK)

''A tuner!'' Zane didn't sound as cool anymore. ''No…''

''This is why I chose Darkness!'' Chazz exclaimed. ''I tune my level 2 tuner monster, krebons, along with my level 6 Destiny Hero – Malicious!'' Krebons turned into two shinning rings, through which the 6 stars in made by Malicious' body came through. ''The power of Darkness will make the true path, by which only the best duelists shall walk!'' Instead of the usual light made inside of the two rings, a huge Dark Ray was formed. ''Synchro Summon! Fly with might, Dark End Dragon!''

Sean couldn't move his eyes from the TV. ''Dark End… Dragon?''

Yugi looked stunned as well, ''Wait… isn't that…''

''The Dark part of Light and Darkness Dragon.''

From the Darkness a huge black dragon arose, with one of its hands being way bigger than the other, having each finger the size of a sword. The two white horns it had rose like ears, each one from a different side of its elongated head. Its bat wings held him in the skies, and, along with the huge mouth on its belly, it contributed to give the dragon a look of evil and might. (2600/2100/8/Dagon/DARK)

''And now I activate its special ability!'' He said. ''By having it lose 500 ATK and DEF points, I can send to the graveyard one of your monsters!''

''Have you gotten mad again?'' Zane asked for a second time. ''I told you I have a second Body as a Shield, which I activ…'' His face went pale as his face-down card didn't flip. ''Wait…why…''

''Do you seriously think you can stop my Dark End Dragon just like that?'' Chazz said with a psychotic voice. ''It doesn't 'destroy' a monster. It sends it to the graveyard without destroying it, kind of like what Death itself does with its victims.'' As he spoke two yellow eyes opened right on top of the mouth on its belly, which opened as well to let out a dark smoke. The smoke surrounded the Cyber Twin Dragon, and, when it was gone, so was the other Dragon.

''And now that your life points have been lowered by the My Body as a Shield you activated earlier…''

''No…'' muttered Zane.

''I attack you directly with Dark End Dragon!'' Chazz finished

Right at that moment, the television was turned off. Sean looked back and saw Solomon with the remote control on his hand, who said, ''Now you guys know what's waiting for you at the Ultimate Championship. And you, Sean…'' He said looking at the young boy, ''you first have to qualify for it. You've gotten a ticket from John to go to the regional tournament, right?''

Sean nodded, saying, ''Right. Shall we keep training?''

''No.'' Solomon negated coldly. ''I want you to look at your deck tonight and search for the hidden power in your monsters.''

''O-ok.'' He said as he got up. But, before he reached the door, he turned around and asked, ''Mr. Muto, that was the dark half of Light and Darkness Dragon, right?''

''Yes, I believe so.''

''Then what happened to the light part?''

''I have no idea… but I believe the dark part of Light and Darkness Dragon has corrupted Chazz's deck.

''Really?'' Sean asked confused. ''How's that?''

''I don't exactly know but… I know Aster Phoenix had a monster named… Archlord Zerato.''

''Wh-What? But then, what happened to Aster? And is Chazz the one trying to steal the punishments cards?''

Solomon sighed. ''If he was a forbidden duelist, then I'd say he was trying to steal them, so we'd go ahead and stop him, but…''

''I'll stop him.'' Kaiba said, ''The Ultimate Championship has been organized by the Kaiba Corporation, so I can change who's going against who each round…''

''Just don't go against him on the first round.'' Solomon ordered. ''Wait until he summons a monarch to go against him.''

''Alright.'' Kaiba responded. ''But I bet Wheeler couldn't beat him even if he wasn't a forbidden duelist.''

''What!'' Joey yelled as he jumped out of his seat, ''Say that in my face, Kaiba!''

''Oh, look at the little puppy get all worked up over a little challenge… is it because you know you can't win?''

''I can take him on at anytime!'' Joey stated.

''We'll see about that in the Championship, Wheeler… But I'll take your word, I'll let you be the first one to fight against him if we find out he's a Forbidden Duelist.''

''You too, stop fighting!'' Yugi ordered. ''We need to stay together in order to succeed! Our decks aren't yet completely made, we could work on them instead of fighting against each other!''

''Talk for yourself Yugi,'' said Kaiba coldly, ''I'll use a combination of discarding and special summoning my Blue-Eyes White Dragons, that'll keep some pressure for my to crush my opponents!''

''I hate to say this, guys…'' Solomon started, ''but Kaiba's deck is the one which has been constructed the best until now. But I still don't know why you still want to run that Dimensional Alchemist…''

''Just to… recover a Blue-Eyes that has been removed from play.''

''As you want. Kind of weird, though, but it's your deck.'' He turned to Yugi and Kaiba. ''You too should work on your deck as well. Joey, if you don't get any Red-Eyes support cards, get the Red-Eyes Black Dragon off your deck; a dragon doesn't work well in a warrior toolbox…''

''But it's my ace monster!'' He said.

''I guess so, but…'' Solomon sighed and looked at Yugi. ''How are you going?''

''I'm still working on it… Using my dark magician with spellcaster support…''

''Yugi, you know what spellcasters lack, right?''

As Sean expected, Yugi smiled. ''Indeed, grandpa. Draw power.''

Solomon crossed his arms. ''And how are you going to do that? I mean, you could use normal monsters for draw power, but how are you going to link cards such as your Feral Imp to a spellcaster deck?''

Yugi looked at his grandphater and said in a mysterious tone, ''That… is a surprise.''

The next day, even though it was Monday, Sean woke up with enthusiasm. He took his cell phone, called his parents to tell them he was ok, happy, and ready to go to the Regional Qualifiers. When he got out of his room, he saw Yugi dressed up already, with Joey behind him taking breakfast in a pajama with the cartoons of brown dogs.

'_How appropriate.' _Sean thought with a smile on his face.

''Shall we go?'' Yugi asked, forcing Sean out of his thoughts. Sean nodded as a response, and, as they were walking out of the wooden hut, Yugi dialed a number on his phone.

''Grandpa, we're out, could you be there in the northern exit of the forest with a car?''

Even though Sean didn't hear Solomon's response, he figured it had to be affirmative, since Yugi said 'thanks' after Solomon answered.

They walked through the forest for about five minutes, while Sean wondered if Yugi knew the way or he was just improvising. After another five minutes, he could see a road, with cars passing by. As they got closer, he also advised a dark-blue colored Mitsubishi, in which Solomon was seated. Yugi opened the front-left, and made a signal to Sean for him to enter in the back seat. As he got in, Solomon asked, ''Ready?''

''I guess,'' he answered, ''but I still haven't found the hidden power in my monsters.''

To that, Solomon stopped the car brusquely and looked back. ''Say what!''

Sean's face turned red. ''I'm sorry… but if the cards had their effect printed on them…''

Solomon sighed. ''They don't have space for that. The image takes most of the card, reason why you have to test what each cards does. What have you tried?''

''I've tried to activate their effects, but they just won't activate. And they don't have any conditions to activate their effects, since my duel dist would tell me 'not enough cards in hand' or 'not enough life points' or something like that…''

''That's weird… so is like if they had no effect?''

Sean nodded. ''Yeah, is like if they were normal monsters… yet, when they are in my hand, they look like effect monsters, each with a powerful effect... but, when I summon them, all that power is gone, and they're like normal monsters.''

Solomon turned back and started the car, and, without looking back, he asked, ''So, if they look like they are effect monsters while in your hand, can you tell their effects?''

''More or less,'' Sean said, ''but still, they all activate while on the field, like destroying a card or reviving a monster, and when I summon them…''

''They get no effect.'' Solomon ended brusquely. ''Yeah, we've understood that part.''

''We're here.'' Yugi said, ending the discussion.

They all got out of the car, and Sean could see how Solomon gave him a mean look while he looked around for his friends. He looked back and saw how Yugi and Solomon headed for the entrance of a big orange building, with a purple-crystal dome on top of it, which looked like a futuristic African hut. Sean was about to follow them when he heard a voice behind the building. A voice he knew very well.

''That's stupid. You're saying that you want to bet MY entrance in a duel? What do I have to win, huh?''

As Sean got closer, his hunch became true: that voice belonged to the dark-looking John, who was looking directly at Fujimaru. When this one saw Sean, the surly expression in his face went away and shouted, ''Hey, Sean! How was your training?''

Sean smiled and ran towards him, ignoring John. ''Pretty good, I'm ready to kick some butts now! Did you get an entrance to the Regional Qualifiers as well? And where are Rob and the rest?''

''They're already inside, as for myself… well, as soon as Rob told us you already had an entrance for the Regional Qualifiers (you're lucky, you got it for free!) we had to compete in different local tournaments and pass some tests in order to try to get entrances…''

With this noticed, Sean felt how his heart filled with enthusiasm . ''That's awesome!'' he said, ''So all of you are gonna participate with me?''

''Well, about that…'' Fujimaru put his left hand behind his head, looking ashamed, ''I'm the only one who hasn't gotten an entrance, so…''

''So now he wants to duel me for mine.'' John finished.

Sean turned around, and, without saying anything to him, he looked back at Fujimaru. ''You think you can beat him?'' He whispered.

''I hope so.'' Fujimaru responded. ''But the problem is that I don't have anything he wants…''

John coughed, and they both turned their heads torwards him. ''I know what you could give me if you lose,'' he proposed, ''I want your rare card, Guardian of Order.''

Fujimaru seemed surprised by that offer, ''Sorry, but… it was given by a friend, and…''

''It's ok.'' Sean stopped him. ''He accepts.''

They both looked at each other, and Sean nodded. He knew how important this was for Fujimaru, and risking a card for a chance to compete with Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba was more than worth it.

**If you review this chapter, also say what you think of tele-DAD decks, like the one Chazz used in this chapter. I personally liked the Tele-DAD era, it was pretty awesome ;)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Qualifiers, and then… The Ultimate Championship! I finally got competitive decks for Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey! **

**Anyways on with the story!**

**Forbidden and Limited List: Advanced Format March 2010**

**Chapter 9 – The Army and the Book**

Sean watched as his friend turned on his duel disk and yelled, ''Duel!''

**Fujimaru:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****John:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''The challenger goes first.'' John stated in a gentle but ironic tone.

''Draw!'' Fujimaru said.

**Fujimaru:**_8000 _**/ **_6 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_0_** - ****John:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

Sean could see Fujimaru was happy with the card had just drawn; He set it along with a face-down monster, ending his turn.

''A T-set won't stop me.'' John warned Fujimaru as he drew.

**Fujimaru:**_8000 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **1** - ****John:**_8000 _**/ **_6 _**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

John seemed pleased with his hand as well. ''Ha, it looks like I'm gonna beat you on the first turn.'' He raised a card in his hand and continued, ''I open my turn with the spell ca-''

''I activate my trap card!'' Fujimaru cut him, ''Light force Sword!''

Sean opened his eyes widely as he saw the infamous trap card activated. He also heard John muttering, ''no way''. But why would Fujimaru activate such a card?

''Normally,'' Fujimaru kept going, ''This card would just originate a one-for-one for four turns, and after that it'd give you a +1, since your card would go back to your hand. But, in a duel with holograms, the 'choose a card at random' means that I can choose any card in your hand, without actually looking at what card it is. But I remove from play the card that you're holding up in your right hand, which I figured out is Dark Fusion!''

John's face turned pale as a holographic sword came out of the trap card and shot through John's card, making it disappear. At that moment, Sean realized how smart his friend actually was. Fujimaru had turned a card that, as he said, gave you a simple 1 for 1, to an upgraded version of the rare and powerful 'Trap Dustshoot', which lasted four turns, but had no activation requirements and could remove anything from the opponent's hand.

''Nice play, Fujimaru!'' Sean yelled.

''You still haven't seen anything!'' He responded as John summoned his Archfiend Soldier in attack mode. (1900/1500/4/Fiend/DARK)

''Archfiend Soldier, attack Fujimaru's face-down monster!'' John commanded.

''Nice try John, but I know that, without Dark Fusion or EARTH-Attribute monsters in your graveyard, you can't swarm, reason why I placed my D.D. Warrior Lady face-down!''

A beautiful woman in a dark suit, having blond hair and holding a glowing sword, was flipped face-up, and she appeared on the field, in front of the Archfiend Soldier. (1500/1600/4/Warrior/LIGHT) The Soldier used its sword to attack the Lady, but, when he did, both were removed from play.

''As you should know,'' Fujimaru explained, ''D.D. Warrior Lady the special ability to remove from play herself and any monster that battles with her.''

John cursed out loud as he ended his turn, so Fujimaru drew.

**Fujimaru:**_8000 _**/ **_5 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **0** - ****John:**_8000 _**/ **4**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''I activate the spell card Light of Redemption! This lets me pay 800 life points to get a LIGHT monster from the removed from play zone back into my hand, so come back, D.D. Warrior Lady!''

''Again!'' Exclaimed John. ''What is this, an anti-me deck?''

Fujimaru smiled, ''Even if it is, does it matter?''

''You son of a …''

Fujimaru cut him loudly so no one heard the end of the phrase, ''Now I play her again, but this time in face-up attack mode!'' The Warrior was summoned, ready to attack John's open field. (1500/1600/4/Warrior/LIGHT)

''Now, D.D. Warrior Lady, attack John directly!'' As he ordered this, the woman ran towards John and slashed her sword to cut him holographically, making him finch and make a grimace.

**Fujimaru:**_7200 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **1** - ****John:**_6500 _**/ **4**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''I now play yet another face-down card and end my turn.''

**Fujimaru:**_7200 _**/ **_3 _**/**_ 1 _**/ **1** - ****John:**_6500 _**/ **5**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''Sean looked at the card he had just put face-down and asked, ''why didn't you put that trap card face-down before? Did you just draw it this turn?''

Fujimaru looked at where Sean was and responded, ''No. I drew it in my first turn, but I was afraid John would hit a Heavy Storm, since I haven't drawn my Curse of Royal this time.''

''But Lightforce Sword is chainable, you wouldn't have lost that much advantage if you had chained it to a Heavy Storm.''

''Haha, not bad Sean, you've learned a lot. But remember the effect of Lightforce sword is a little bit different in Holographic Duel: If I had to chain it to a Heavy Storm, then I wouldn't be sure to hit the right card. That wouldn't make me lose advantage, but I'd lose the point of playing Lightsforce sword, as well as my other trap, which isn't chainable.''

''Now, that makes more sense…'' Sean responded.

''By the way, where have you learned all this? Before you didn't know anything about cha-''

''I summon Snipe Hunter in attack mode!'' A crazy-looking fiend was summoned, holding a gun that had a roulette with the numbers 1-6 instead of room for bullets. (1500/600/4/Fiend/DARK) ''Now I activate its special effect! By discarding my Mega-Cyber Fiend, I can roll a dice and choose one of your cards. If the result isn't one or six, then your card is destroyed.'' As he discarded his monster, Fujimaru said,

''I activate my trap, Destruction Jammer, which lets me discard a card and negate an effect that would destroy my mons-'' He stopped and looked at his duel-disk, confused. ''Why won't it activate? The timing is correct!''

John laughed out loud. ''No it isn't. You can only chain it to a card that destroys one or more monsters on the fiend. My monster doesn't destroy; it may destroy. As you can't be a 100% sure it'll destroy your monsters, then you can't activate that card. And this is what's worse for you: After the dice rolling resolves, you can't negate its activation, since the effect has already been activated.''

A dice was rolled, and the outcome came out to be a 2. The Hunter shot its gun at the D.D Warrior Lady, who got destroyed.

''And now,'' he continued, ''I activate its effect once again. I discard the Legendary Jujitsu master to destroy your face-down card, so it won't be used against me.''

Fujimaru crossed his fingers, but there was no luck: the outcome was 3, and his face-down Destruction Jammer got destroyed.

''But it's not over yet!'' John continued, ''Snipe Hunter, attack Fujimaru directly!'' The fiend shot for a third time, this once against Fujimaru, who finched in pain as his life points went down. ''Now I end my turn.'' John concluded

**Fujimaru:**_5700 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **0** - ****John:**_6500 _**/ **2**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

''He's good.'' Sean muttered, ''Even if he doesn't have Dark Fusion anymore, we have to be careful.''

''Not just that,'' Fujimaru said, putting a hand where the Sniper had shot him and making a grimace, ''but also… I have to beat him before Dark Fusion comes back, because Lightforce Sword only lasts four turns turns.'' He looked at his hand and then went ahead with a new strategy. ''I summon Dimensional Alchemist! Now I can activate its effect, which lets me remove from play the top card from my deck and make my Alchemist gain 500 attack points!'' He removed the top card in his deck, which turned out to be Return from a Different Dimension. (1300/200/4/Fairy/LIGHT) (1800/200/4/Fairy/LIGHT)

''Now I attack your Snipe Hunter with my Dimensional Alchemist, so say good bye to your monster!'' Suddenly, the energy ball the alchemist was holding became bigger, and was shout directly into the fiend, destroying it. ''Now I end my turn.'' He said.

As John didn't even flinch from the attack, he drew calmly.

**Fujimaru:**_5700 _**/ **_3 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **1** - ****John:**_6200 _**/ **3**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''This should be easy.'' John guessed out loud. ''When I control no monsters and you do, I can normal summon Big Piece Golem without a tribute.'' A huge rock-made monster was summoned. Its body was like a rectangle, from which two arms and two legs came out. (2100/0/5/Rock/EARTH) ''Now I'll attack your Dimensional Alchemist, destroying it. As you don't have any monsters removed from play…'' The Golem crushed the alchemist under its fists, shattering it into pieces, and making Fujimaru's life points drop, ''you don't get any card advantage from the Dimensional Alchemist's destruction. Now I'll just end my turn.'' He finished, so Fujimaru drew.

**Fujimaru:**_4900 _**/ **_4 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **0** - ****John:**_6200 _**/ **2**/ **_0 _**/**_ 1_

Sean came closer to Fujimaru, ''I hope you have something good, because the Dark Fusion is coming back after he starts his second turn from now.''

Fujimaru nodded, ''Just watch and learn. I summon Blade Knight in attack mode!'' He stated as a warrior in blue armor appeared on the field, holding both a shield and a sword. (1600/1000/4/Warrior/LIGHT) ''After that, I activate the spell card reasoning! Now you choose the level of a monster, and if…''

''Level four.'' John chose, stopping Fujimaru

''Then..'' he took two cards from the top his deck, sent one to the graveyard and put the other in his Duel-Disk, ''I can Special Summon the pride of my deck, Divine Knight Izhark!'' A warrior in white armor and holding a huge sword was summoned thanks to the effect of the spell card Fujimaru had just activated, shinning with might and strength. (2300/1800/6/Warrior/LIGHT)

''Divine Knight Izhark? Everyone at school knows your best card is Guardian of Order.''

Fujimaru gave Sean a look of complacency. ''Well, Divine Knight Izhark was the pride of my deck before my best friend Sean gave me Guardian of Order.''

John raised an eyebrow and looked at Sean. ''Ah, so it was your Guardian of Order… I bet you didn't know I gave Sean that card, right?''

Sean then saw Fujimaru look at him, so he said, ''Dude… I really didn't remember. He gave me that card four years ago.''

John kept talking as if the two of them were still paying attention to him, ''It's funny, so far away from me all this time and today's is going to return to me.''

''I'm sorry, but it isn't!'' Fujimaru shouted, turning his head back to John ''Instead, it's going to defeat you! When I control two LIGHT Attribute monsters, I can special summon from my hand the monster Guardian of Order!'' From the skies came a huge warrior in a shiny armor, made of white and gold. The armor had four wings, two upwards and two downwards, the upper ones being bigger than the lower ones, giving it a look of majesty as it presided Fujimaru's Light Army. (2500/1200/8/Warrior/LIGHT)

John frowned and made a grimace of frustration as Fujimaru stated, ''Now that I only have one card in my hand, my Blade Knight gains 400 ATK!'' (1600/1000/4/Warrior/LIGHT) (2000/1000/4/Warrior/LIGHT)

''Next, Divine Knight Izhark, attack John's Big Piece Golem! By the way, did I mention any monster that Izhark destroys by battle is removed from play?'' As he said this, Izhark unsheated his gigangic sword and slashed the Golem in two with it. Its body was then removed into a dimensional hole in that appeared behind it.

**Fujimaru: **_4900_**/ **_1 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_3_** - ****John:**_6000 _**/ **2**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''And next I attack directly with both the Blade Knight and the Guardian of Order!'' As he ordered this, Guardian of Order used its body to slam John, making him fall to the floor, and then Blade Knight slashed John. ''Now I end my turn.''

John drew a card as he rose slowly from the floor, his face showing an expression of pain and fury.

**Fujimaru:**_4900 _**/ **_1 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_3_** - ****John:**_1500_**/ **3**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''I.. end my turn.'' John said slowly.

Fujimaru looked at Sean with a happy expression on his face. ''Finally, I did it! I beat John! First, I draw!''

**Fujimaru:**_4900 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_3_** - ****John:**_1500_**/ **3**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''Fujimaru, be careful, John isn't stupid…'' Sean warned him. He knew John must have something up his sleeve.

''Look at his face, Sean, he's done for! He doesn't have any face-downs, no monsters… It's over! Don't you see it?''

''Fujimaru, seriously…''

''Look Sean, if you're jealous because I'm about to beat John, well then suck it!'' Fujimaru said with anger

Sean opened his eyes widely and looked at Fujimaru, worried. He was usually smart and calculative, but humble at the same time. He wasn't being himself.

''I attack directly with Guardian of Order in order to end this duel!'' As the warrior rose into the skies, Sean looked at John's face, and he could see a little smirk on John's face. ''Fujimaru, don't!''

But it was too late. ''When you attack me directly, I can end the battle phase by special summoning my Battle Fader!'' A little fiend was summoned, having a bell ringing in one of its arms, which was turning from a place to another. Instead of legs, it had a clock, which moved as well. The sound of the bell stopped all of Fujimaru's monsters from attacking. He looked at his Light Army, unable to keep attacking, and he knew he had no other choice. ''I end my turn.'' He declared goomily.

John started laughing, a laugh that pierced through Sean's ears and made his heart feel an uncontrolled rage he had never felt before. ''You are dead, Fujimaru! Because now that it is my fourth Standby Phase… I get back my Dark Fusion spell card!'' As he said this, the card he had been missing since the beginning of the duel appeared back to its hand.

**Fujimaru:**_4900 _**/ **_2 _**/**_ 0 _**/ **_3_** - ****John:**_1500_**/ **5**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''I sacrifice Battle Fader in order to summon one of my favorite monsters, Grammarg the Rock Monarch!'' A huge monster with an armor made of brown stone and two powerful arms appeared on the field, having a majestic aura around it. (2400/1000/6/Rock/EARTH) ''Normally,'' he said, ''It's effect would kick in and destroy any face down card that could stand in my way to victory, but I see you don't even have one.'' He ended this phrase with a smile. ''So I'll go ahead and end this duel with my infamous spell card, Dark Fusion! This lets me fuse my Ultimately Obedient Fiend and my Legendary Jujitsu Master in order to fuse summon…'' A fire started to burn the Fiend and the Legendary Jujitsu Master, causing pain to them and making a different fusion than would have happened with any other card. ''Evil Hero Dark Gaia!'' The demon made of stone that Sean knew very well came from the flames, with powerful claws and giant wings, giving a look of might to the inactive Fujimaru, who was looking at the floor. (5800/0/8/Fiend/DARK)

''But that's not all.'' He continued. ''You removed from play my Dark Fusion and put cards in your deck just to fight against me… I won't allow you to have another turn. This will be your end, because I activate the spell card Don of the Martyr!'' When he did this, Grammarg was sacrificed, and his soul went to where Evil Hero Dark Gaia was.

Sean shivered. ''Wait, this card lets you sacrifice a monster…''

''And make another one of my monsters gain its attack power!'' (5800/0/8/Fiend/DARK) (8200/0/8/Fiend/DARK) ''Now, Dark Gaia, attack my future monster: Guardian of Order!''

The rock-armored fiend rose up in the skies, and then it descended directly to where Guardian of Order was, shattering it into pieces. The expansive wave made by the destruction of his monster hit Fujimaru right on his abdomen, making him bend forwards. When Sean saw that, he went quickly to where Fujimaru was to help him get up. He took his left hand, the one holding the duel disk, so, when Fujimaru started standing up, Sean saw:

**Fujimaru:**_0000 _**- ****John:**_1500_**/ **5**/ **_0 _**/**_ 0_

''Fujimaru…'' Sean whispered as his friend got up. ''It's ok.''

But Fujimaru didn't respond. In fact, he walked away slowly, with his back turned on Sean. John laughed, and Sean turned his head. Then he saw John taking Guardian of Order from the ground, without even looking at Fujimaru. Sean closed his fist, thinking about the bad things that could happen if he hit John in the face at that moment.

''See you later, loser.'' Sean looked up and saw John walking away, just like Fujimaru had done. But Sean knew he shouldn't follow any of them: Going where John was would just make him angrier and could get him in trouble; on the other hand, he knew how Fujimaru felt, and he knew he needed to be alone at this moment. Sean just stood there, alone, for what looked an eternity, until he heard a familiar voice.

''Hey! Sean!'' As a response to this, Sean looked at where the voice was coming from and saw Ashley coming from the front part of the dome in which the qualifiers were to take place. Her long, dark hair went from one side to another while she was running towards Sean. When she got close, and Sean realized she had a ton of black make up around her dark eyes, she asked,

''So what's up? I haven't seen you in some time; Fujimaru told ud were training, but wow, you got an entrance too? This is so exciting, everyone of us is gonna be in this tournament and…''

''Fujimaru isn't.'' Sean cut her gloomily. Ashley's smile disappeared drastically as her eyes opened widely. ''What!'' Her voice sounded stunned, ''but he's the best duelist in our gang! How come he didn't get an entrance?''

''I don't know, wasn't he with you guys when y'all went to get entrances by dueling around Domino city?''

Ashley nodded, ''Yeah, but the duels to get entrances for the Regional Qualifiers got so far away from each other that we had to end up separating and… Oh gosh, I hope he's ok.'' After she ended the sentence, she was biting her lower lip.

''I hope so as well,'' Sean replied gloomily, ''but the Qualifiers shouldn't take much longer to start; we must get going.''

''You're right,'' Ashley raised a fist, recovering her energy. ''Let's go!''

Sean went around the dome following Ashley until they got to the entrance of the building. Then, they got in, and Sean looked around, expecting to see huge dueling fields such as the ones in 'Duel Time', but instead he saw four tables, and no place for the non-existent spectators . When Sean started to wonder where the heck Yugi and Solomon were, he heard Joey's voice near.

''C'mon gramps, it's obvious Chazz is the forbidden duelist we were looking for!''

Both Sean and Ashley turned around and looked at where the voice was coming from. There he saw Joey arguing with Solomon, Yugi, and Kaiba, sitting on the audience benches. Ashley looked like she was about to scream when she saw Yugi, so, Sean put a hand on her mouth, and with the other one he put a finger on his own lips, telling her to be quiet.

''For once, the puppy is right.'' Kaiba agreed. ''He's the forbidden duelist that's looking for the 3 cards we have… It's obvious the one we're looking for is him. Didn't you hear him say all that crazy stuff about the darkness being the true path?''

Solomon negated with his head. ''But we're still not sure…''

Yugi was the one to talk this time. ''But grandpa, do you remember that time in which you told me about the seven monarchs? One of them was Caius, the Shadow one. I bet Chazz is a forbidden duelist, and he has it.''

''That would make sense…'' Kaiba agreed. ''Why can't we just duel him in the first round of the tournament?''

Solomon sighed. ''Guys, it's harder than what you think… Sean hasn't…''

''If you need Sean,'' Yugi said with a smile, and then he raised his head and looked at the mentioned one, who smiled weakly, ''he's over there.''

Solomon looked at where Sean and Ashley were, and told him to go where they were. Sean took Ashley's hand. ''Come with me.'' He said.

Strangely enough, at that moment Ashley seemed in La-La land, because she had a stupid smile on her face and was looking ahead with empty eyes. Sean thought it probably was because of Yugi. When they got there, Solomon asked,

''Sean, have you ever met Chazz Princeton in person?''

What and odd question, Sean thought. ''No.'' he answered.

Solomon looked at Yugi, Kaiba and Joey. ''See?''

The three of them seemed as confused as Sean. ''I don't get it.'' Joey said.

Solomon nodded. ''Well… I think I haven't explained you guys this… All Forbidden Duelists are connected in some way. This is because, in ancient times, they were forbidden to duel against anyone (hence the name) that wasn't a forbidden duelist. From then on, Monarchs make sure that Forbidden Duelists meet each other at some point of their lives.''

''So… technically I've met all Forbidden Duelists by now?'' Sean asked.

''Yes.'' Solomon answered, ''but they could be anyone, from the owner of a shop in which you bought a booster pack or someone you had to share a sit with in a bus. At least that's what I think the book meant by 'having them in their lives'.''

Book. That gave Sean an idea. ''Mr. Muto, could I read that book?''

To Sean's surprise, he nodded. ''Yes, I'll go home to get it now. It's something a friend wrote when he was investigating about the Forbidden Duelists and the Three Punishments. All prophecies and information about them were on the same island. By the way, who's your girlfriend?''

Sean blushed. ''Uh, she's not my girlfriend, Mr. Muto, this is Ashley White, a friend of mine.''

''Oh, I see.'' Solomon looked at her. ''Well, have fun in the tournament.''

''Awesome.'' Sean responded. ''See you later!''

After both had gotten far from Solomon and the others, Ashley asked, ''They know you!''

Sean nodded, ''Yeah, they're who I've been training with.''

Ashley had her mouth wide open. She tried to say something, but all words that got out of her mouth weren't understandable. As Sean and Ashley walked through the building, he realized this wasn't going to be a huge, fancy tournament. It was probably going to be everyone playing against each other at the same time of the round, so he wouldn't have much time to see his friends duel… unless he finished quicker than them, of course. But a soft hug and flower-like perfume forced him out of his thoughts. He looked back and saw Mara smiling. Rob was behind him, with his arms crossed and smiling as well.

''How's it going man?''Rob asked first. ''Long time no see.''

Mara nodded, ''Yeah, how has training been?''

Ashley was the one to answer this question. ''You won't believe it, he's been training with Yugi Muto, Seto Kaiba, and Joey Wheeler!''

''Say what!'' Rob punched him in his right arm. ''Dude that's awesome!''

''Yeah, that's great!'' Mara agreed.

''Guys…'' Sean's face was just like the flames of his ace monster now. ''She made it sound way cooler than it was. We were just training in the same place; they got a much harder training than I did…''

''As modest as always.'' Ashely patted him in the back with strength.

Rob laughed, and then he asked, ''Hey, where's Fujimaru?''

Right at that moment, Sean's and Ashley's expression darkened. Sean explained how Fujimaru hadn't been able to get an entrance, and how he had lost a duel against John when trying to get one. Rob didn't say a word, while Mara muttered, ''I'm so sorry for him…''

Sean looked at his friends with determination. ''Guys… I know he'll be fine. This happened to me not too long ago, and hey, look at me now.''

Mara let out a weak laugh, and Rob smiled, saying, ''Yeah, that duel back at school was awesome. I'm so looking forwards to dueling against you in this tournament.''

Sean nodded. ''And now, you guys, I have to go look for Yugi's grandfather. He has something I gotta see…''

''What is it?'' Rob asked, ''a card?''

''No it's… a book… Long story.''

''Alright,'' he responded, ''while you're gone, I'll take care of the ladies here.'' He blinked an eye, and Sean laughed.

As he got further from his friends, thoughts about Fujimaru filled his head. He wasn't actually looking for Solomon; Sean knew it should take him a few more minutes to get that . The actual reason why he left was because everyone worrying so much about Fujimaru made him worry about him as well, and he didn't want to. He wanted to hope, not to worry. He got out of the building and sat on a bench, thinking about all this, when Solomon's car stopped there, in front of Sean. From it came out Solomon himself with an old-looking book, saying: ''Here you have, Sean. It can be interpreted in many ways, so I'll stay with you and help you understand it, ok?''

''Got it.'' Sean responded, taking the book and opening it. Then, he began reading the first page out loud. ''Of all clans in the Duel monsters world, there is one that stands higher than any of the others, without the need of specific support spells or traps for them. This clan ruled over the others for many years, hence its name, the Monarchs. I, professor José Gonzalez, discovered a rock that had in it written a prophecy. This Prophecy binds the powers of the monarchs, making them Forbidden to be used by any duelist, except by those chosen by the monarchs themselves. This is why I decided to name these duelists the Forbidden Duelists.''

''Oh, so he's the one that started the whole 'Forbidden Duelists' thing?'' Sean asked.

''That doesn't matter.'' Solomon responded. ''Keep reading.''

''Ok. These Forbidden Duelists were also restricted by the prophecy, and they would never be able to duel with the monarchs on their side. But the restriction had a second part to it: The Forbidden Duelists could be able to duel once one of the Prophecies that tied the Monarchs to the Three Duel Monster's Punishments started. These prophecies shall start as soon as monarchs come to our world. I looked for these prophecies, and found a cave in ruins that had the following written on one of its walls:

_The Dark one shall be the most powerful one_

_The Light one shall be at the frontline of the final war_

_The Rock one shall be the one which will make the strongest monster._

_The Frost one shall manipulate place _

_The Storm one will manipulate time._

_The Firestorm one will unleash the hidden powers and start the beginning of the end._

_The Thunder one shall rule over the oppressed and liberate them_

…

Then, this part was covered by rocks I just couldn't move. But, at the bottom, I could read the finale:

_And so, when the above conditions are met, the most powerful one shall end the reign of the Three Punishments._

I don't exactly know what was written in the part that could not be read, but I'm sure it was something about another condition that had to be met in order for the three punishments to be destroyed.'' Sean stopped reading. ''This is stunning…''

''I know, right?'' Solomon said, ''but now keep reading until the end of the prologue. We don't have much time.''

''Alright.'' Sean cleared his throat. ''This discovery made me want to know more about the Forbidden Duelists. It seems like they all share something in common other than monarchs: A special trait that cannot be described with words. This trait will make them meet each other during their lives, even thought the Three Punishments will try to stop that, since them meeting would mean the possible resolution of the Prophecy. But, when they are not together, this trait will make them see each other by means of the mind when everything else is calmed.'' Sean reread that last phrase again. ''Wait, what does that mean?''

''Dreams.'' Solomon responded. ''That's when the mind is working but everything else is calmed. Sean, you ok?'' He asked looking at a stunned Sean. At that moment, he remembered… A man in his dark room, doctor Crowler, a hooded John dueling against Aster… and Chazz Princeton saying good bye to his Ojamas.

''Chazz is a Forbidden Duelist!'' Sean yelled. ''I dreamed of him!''

''You did?'' Solomon seemed as stunned as Sean.

''Yeah, and not just about him! Also about John, and a man in a dark room plotting against us… could it be John?''

''You're going way too fast, Sean, how can John be so smart?''

''I don't know, but he got Chazz into the side of the Three Punishments! Remember, the most powerful one will stop them… and the Dark one is the most powerful one! Chazz uses a dark deck, right?''

''That'd make sense… Most people consider Caius the Shadow Monarch to be the most powerful one for being so versatile… I need to talk to Kaiba. I don't want any of them going against a Forbidden Duelist under the hands of the Three Punishments on the first round of the Championship.''

Sean couldn't believe it… how could he have forgotten his own dreams? ''But, Mr. Muto… How do they know Yugi and the others each have a Punishment?''

Solomon smiled. ''They don't.'' After he said that, he opened the door of his car and started driving insanely fast towards the hut in the forest.

After Solomon left, Sean stood where he was, thinking. John… He had to make him pay. If he could duel against him and win… He didn't care if the prophecy said only the holder of Caius could beat him. Sean knew he could win. He turned around and went straight to where his destiny was right now, the Regional Qualifiers.

**Wow, after writing this chapter I wanna write the last one already… This is gonna be so awesome, you'll see. So, do you think Caius is the most powerful of the seven monarchs? Also, their part in the prophecy and their effects on the story go with their card effects: Mobius manipulates 'place' since he makes such a big impact on the field (+2!) and Raiza manipulates time since he makes the opponent draw his card once again, slowing him down.**


	10. Chapter 10

I want to apologize for not updating this long. Spanish High school is incredibly hard: I barely have time to write during the week, since I live in a lost town in the middle of the mountains, and it takes me 2 hours to go to school and come back every day. Plus, it's also at least 2 hours of studying/homework every day, plus track and field training.

Forbidden and Limited List: March 2010

Chapter 10 – A Lovely Opponent

Sean was now standing along with Ashley, Rob, Mara, and John, as well as three other people. One was a really tall, dark haired guy with a skinny body and a thin mouth. The other ones were a blond girl with an expression that seemed like she had no clue as to why she was there and a brown-haired guy with a face that denoted excitement. Sean thought he'd seen this last guy before, but he just didn't know exactly where or when. Then the door was opened, a man in his mid forties entered the room, and suddenly everyone got quiet. This man had a short brown beard and a severe expression, so no one was surprised when a strong voice came from its mouth, saying:

''Alright, I shall be the judge in this tournament. Here, there will be no Swiss rounds, and we are playing single duels; if you lose one, you are automatically disqualified, so you can save your side decks for another day. This is how the Ultimate Championship will also be. There will be no prize for anyone other than the winner, who shall gain an entrance to the Ultimate Championship.''

Sean was getting nervous. If Kaiba was the one holding the tournament, then why didn't he just give him a free entrance instead of making him participate in the Regional Qualifiers? He guessed that Solomon probably had something to do with this, since he wanted him to train against people who had been able to get to the Regional Qualifiers.

The judge kept talking. ''If you have any questions about a card ruling, then ask me. Now I'm going to say the names of the players in the first round, as well as the dueling field they're going to use.'' He coughed, and the tension started to be felt on the air. ''On the dueling field number one, it will be Robert Stud against Christopher Clare.'' Sean looked at Rob and gave him a thumbs up. ''On dueling field number two, it'll be John Cooper against Rachel Wells. On dueling field number three, we have Ashley White against Sean Casler.'' Sean gave Ashley a quick look, and she seemed as surprised as he was. ''On dueling field number four, it'll be Mara Cooper against Spencer Russel.'' He paused. ''You may now move to your fields and start the duel.''

Sean and Ashley exchanged an intense look before moving to their fields. Ashley was Sean's friend, but he had to win. In a different case, he would have asked Ashley her reason's to win, and, if they were strong enough, then Sean would have let her win. But, in this tournament Sean had to beat John no matter what. Ashley was now looking at the floor, deep into her thoughts. Then, she muttered something and looked up. When their eyes met, they both yelled, ''Duel!''

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Sean looked at his duel disk and saw that Ashley had gotten lucky this round: she got to choose whether to go first or not.

''Hey, you wanna go first?'' She asked.

That question surprised Sean. He looked at Ashley, stunned. ''Say what?''

''Well… I was wondering you may want to go first.'' She blushed.

Right when Sean started to think that her friend had lost her mind, he realized that she must be trying to make him win. She had probably realized that Sean's reasons to win were more important; perhaps there was another reason hidden within her thoughts. ''Ashley,'' he said, ''I may want to win this tournament, but I don't think it's fair if you let me win.''

Ashley looked away from Sean. ''Sorry. I just… wanted to…'' Sean got more confused as Ashley's voice went softer so he couldn't hear the rest of the sentence.

''Look, Ashley.'' He said. ''We still haven't had a duel in which we were playing with all we've got. I think this is the best opportunity we'll ever have.''

Ashley didn't say anything to that, but, suddenly, a smile could be seen on her face. ''Thanks.'' She said. ''I'll go first then. Draw!''

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''I start off with a face down monster and a face-down card.'' She stated. ''That's all for now.''

''A T-set, huh? Let's see what I can do about it.'' Sean commented. ''Draw!''

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'_Oh man, my monsters…'_Sean thought while looking at his hand. 'They all look so powerful, but… oh well, I'll just go with this.'

''I summon in Future Samurai in attack mode!'' As Sean stated this, a skinny Japanese warrior came into the field, wearing a blue kimono and a robotic-like armor on its arms. A blue glass was covering his determined eyes, which looked at Ashley with strength. But no one noticed Sean's disappointment when he saw his monster had no special effect now that it had hit the field. ''Now I'll attack with my samurai to your set monster! (1600/1200/4/Warrior/LIGHT)

''Not bad, Sean'' she complimented him, ''but that was exactly what I was expecting you to do! Be flipped, flying kamikiri #2!'' The samurai's katana encountered a huge green dragon fly with four arms and two legs, having a brown abdomen and red parts covering its chest and part of its legs. (1400/900/4/Insect/WIND)

The sword slashed the insect's body, but inside there was another bug: A big red wasp with black strips and a terrifying looking blade on one of its legs (600/700/2/Insect/WIND)

Sean was stunned as he saw the threatening wasp start to fly. ''Wh-What is that thing?''

''The perfect backup for my soldiers of the sky: Bladefly. And guess what, I now activate my face-down card, Inferno Reckless Summon''

Finally something Sean was comfortable against. ''I know what that does… Now you can special summon as many copies of that monster as you have in your hand, deck or graveyard. And I could do the same with my Future Samurai if I were running any more copies of him…''

''Well, it's a shame that you aren't, Sean.'' Ashley pitied him. ''Because now I can special summon two other Bladeflies'' Another pair of insects joined the little army Ashley was starting gather. ''And now, Sean, I have bad news for you. Bladefly increases the attack of all WIND attribute monsters by 500, so, as I have three…''

(x3) (600/700/insect/WIND) - (2100/700/insect/WIND)

Back where the audience was sitting Sean could hear Yugi talk to his grandfather. ''Looks like Sean's in trouble.'' He said

''The duel has just started Yugi,'' Solomon replied, ''And Sean still has plenty of room to counterattack.''

''I hope he's able to do so, grandpa.''

Suddenly, Ashley's voice got Sean's attention back to the duel. ''Hey! Is it my turn yet?''

''Huh? Oh, sorry Ashley'' Sean took a look at his hand quickly. ''Alright, I'll place two face-down cards and end my turn.''

''Alright, I'll draw now!''

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''For my next move, I'll use mystical space typhoon to destroy one of your face-down cards!'' Ashley stated.

As soon as a typhoon formed around one of Sean's face-down cards, he pushed the button in his duel disk that would activate it. ''Alright,'' he said ''I chain threatening roar! This will make you unable to declare an attack during this turn.''

Ashley looked disappointed. ''Oh man…'' she muttered. Sean could hear Solomon say ''that's what you get for not setting it and using it on your opponent's end phase so he can't chain anything.''

''Oh well…'' She continued. ''My Bladeflies are pretty strong right now by themselves, so you won't be destroying them easily! But I won't risk it, so I'll set one card face-down and summon Mist Valley Falcon in attack mode! Then I'll end my turn.''

A white-haired man having wings on its back and claws instead of hands appeared in front of the Bladeflies, holding a black shield with an eye on the middle and a mid-size medieval sword surrounded with wind.

(2000/1200/4/Winged-Beast/WIND) - Current ATK: 3500

''Time to get things fired up!'' Sean exclaimed as he draw.

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''Not again…'' He thought. ''I've got two monsters in my hand, but their attack isn't high enough to take on a bladefly with them. Their effects might help, but if I summon any of them… It'll happen like it did with my future samurai!''

As Sean tried to figure out how he could make his monsters' effect work, he saw a spell card in his hand. He gazed at it uneasily, and then looked back at the monsters in his hand. And then, after all the time spent training, he finally understood it. He smiled as he looked at it and realized what type of monsters he was holding. They didn't 'become' weak once they hit the field; their effects were just too powerful to use openly, so they were hidden within them. And thanks to the infamous spell card that Sean was holding and the power that it brought, he realized how to unleash that hidden power.

''Alright Ashley! Get ready because I activate the spell card polymerization! This lets me fuse my Gemini Soldier and my Evocator Chevalier in order to fuse summon…'' As he said this, a little green ninja with a white scarf covering the lower part of his face and another monster, like a bigger version of it with a red armor and a fire-covered sword, started merging together making a dragon-shaped form. Sean's extra deck was opened, and a single purple-bordered card came out of it ''I summon Superalloy Beast Raptinus!''

A dragon-shaped chimera made with random parts of the aforementioned monsters was summoned into the field; its head had nothing to do with the fusions materials used to summon it, as it was a purple, flat dragon head with fins at its sides and three big horns on top. (2200/2200/8/Dragon/LIGHT).

''What is that?'' Ashley asked with both of her eyes wide open. ''Weren't the fusion materials compatible or something? Is that what happens when you fuse summon incorrectly?''

Sean let out a smirk. ''They were, Ashley.'' He replied confidently. The thing is, Superalloy Beast Raptinus is a very special monster: It's a chimera that can be made fusing any two monsters that fit a certain requirement…''

Ashley looked at Sean, confused. ''A requirement?''

''Exactly. This chimera will bring out the hidden powers my monsters have, since they all share a common trait… hence why I was able to fuse them together.''

''But you're monsters…'' she replied, ''they're normal monsters. I mean, my duel disk is telling me all monsters on your graveyard are normal monsters.''

Sean's smirk was made even bigger. ''Not exactly. They aren't normal monsters. But they aren't effect monsters either. They are…'' He was finally gonna say it, he had realized what his monsters really were: ''Gemini monsters! Monsters that are treated as normal while on the field and graveyard but hold a hidden power! And Superalloy Beast Raptinus lets me bring out that power.''

Ashley shook her head. ''But I checked the Duel-Disk field when you summoned Future Samurai and it didn't have an effe-'' She looked at the information her Duel Disk was giving her about Sean's face up card at the moment and her jaw was dropped. ''I can't believe it! Future Samurai… He's an effect monster!''

''With a very useful effect, actually.'' Sean added. ''Once per turn, I can remove from play one 'normal' monster in my graveyard, like Gemini Soldier, to destroy one of your face-up monsters! So say goodbye to one of your Bladeflies!''

As Sean ordered this, the samurai's katana was filled with a light coming from the Soldier's soul, which was launched as bright slash towards one of the Bladeflies, which was destroyed.

''And now,'' he continued, ''I summon Card Trooper and activate its effect! Once per turn I can send the top 3 cards from my deck to the graveyard to make it gain 500 ATK for each, until the end of the turn!'' A little, blue robot with a cylindrical body and red canons instead of hands was summoned, having a bright light on its head and wheels below its body. The light was turned on green, yellow and finally red every time Sean milled a card from his deck.

(400/400/3/Machine/EARTH) - (1900/400/3/Machine/EARTH)

''That's my pupil!'' Solomon yelled across the dueling field.

Sean smiled at him. ''And now for the battle phase! Both Card Trooper and Future Samurai, attack Ashley's weakened Butterflies, and after that Superalloy Beast Raptinus will attack Mist Valley Falcon!''

The Card trooper shot its laser at one of the Bladeflies, and right after that the Future Samurai used its katana to swiftly cut the other one in half. Once they were destroyed, Raptinus shot a white beam of light to the Falcon, destroying it.

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Ashley watched her monsters be destroyed with apprehension, but she didn't finch or move into a counterattacking position. She just stood there, aimlessly, watching Sean end his turn.

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''This is kinda weird,'' Sean pointed out as Ashley drew a new card. ''I thought you'd use your face-down card to protect yourself, Ashley. Or was it a bluff?''

Ashley looked at the card she had just drawn, looking surprised. Sean wondered what was going through her head until she looked up into his eyes. Her eyes were different. There was a swift determination in them, and they way they looked at him was… scary. Like if she was holding too many mixed feelings behind them.

''Alright.'' She said. ''I can't let you win, Sean. This is for the best, but you wouldn't understand…''

''What are you talking about?'' He replied.

''You'll see soon. For now, I'll summon Reborn Tengu in attack mode!''

An absolute and dark silence was made present in the whole room as a swift breeze brought a winged, brown beast warrior with two swords and a Japanese-looking coat with a strand of pearls around its neck. It had avian and humanly features in it, which made it hard to actually pair it up with any known animal. (1700/900/4/Beast-Warrior/WIND)

It touched the ground soundlessly, and as no sound was being heard in the dueling room, Sean looked around. He saw everyone with their duels going on, but they didn't make any sounds. He then looked where the audience was, and saw Solomon standing up and looking at the monster that had just been summoned. From his lips he could read words like 'can't…be…doesn't exist…announced for next year…''. He looked back at the monster and tried to figure out what this situation meant. If the card that had just been summoned had been announced for next year to come out, how did Ashley have it?

Ashley's words brought him back to the duel, and suddenly the noise came back on. ''Come on Sean! I haven't done much yet. I activate the spell card foolish burial! This lets me send any monster I want from my deck to the graveyard, so I'll choose Simorgh, Bird of Divinity.''

Sean opened his eyes widely. ''What? But that's your ace card Ashley!''

She smiled. ''I know. Reason why I now activate my trap, Call of the Haunted! This will let me revive Simorgh in order to start my counterattack!'' A mighty, huge green bird was raised from the dead, flapping its wings and looking at Sean with two angry yellow eyes. It had a little red crown on top of its head, and 4 yellow long feathers came down from its back onto the floor. (2700/1000/7/Winged-Beast/WIND)

''Now I'll attack with Simorgh to Raptinus!'' As she ordered this, Simorgh flapped its wings and made a tornado, which surrounded Raptinus. The tornado got fiercer in a matter of seconds, and, when it was gone, Ratinus had been destroyed. Sean watched this with apprehension as he saw his Future Samurai become a normal monster again.

''Next,'' she continued, ''just so you don't use that Samurai's effect on my Simorgh later on, I attack it with my Reborn Tengu!''

''Not so fast!'' Sean stopped her. ''I activate my trap, Justi Break! When my normal monster is attacked, I can destroy all face-up effect monsters on the field!''

Ashley looked at Sean's trap with surprise as lightning came out of the Future Samurai, who raised his hand and let all the rays hit the other three monsters on the field. ''And, just so you know,'' Sean reminded Ashley, ''when card trooper is destroyed I get to draw a card.''

Ashley smirked and looked to the floor, letting her black hair cover her eyes as silence came back into the room once again. And, in that same silence, only her voice was heard ''When my Reborn Tengu is removed from the field,'' she slowly said in a soft tone, ''I have to special summon another copy of it from my deck.''

Sean watched Ashley's field in amazement, as a new Tengu was brought into the room. Ashley kept on going. ''As it is still my battle phase,'' she started to look up slowly ''I can destroy your Samurai with my Reborn Tengu!'' As the Tengu's swords approached Sean's samurai, sound started to be restored, just like before, and it was back at its full intensity right when the Future Samurai was unmercifully destroyed.

''I now end my turn.'' She finished

Sean drew a card, evaluating the field and his possibilities.

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''Alright Ashley, let's see how you deal with this: I set both a card and a face-down monster! That's all.''

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As Ashley drew a card, Sean could see doubt going on in her eyes as they turned darker. He didn't have a good feeling about all this. As she looked at the card she had just drawn, she nodded and said: ''I summon my third copy of Reborn Tengu in attack position!''

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And, for the third and last time in that duel, silence was made as the Japanese dog-like beast was summoned with a breeze whistling behind it. ''Now,'' she continued, ''I don't know about what cards you have face down, Sean. But who knows, maybe it's a monster with high defense. The thing is, I have drawn Simorgh, Bird of Ancestry, and it's pretty much a dead draw at this point of the duel, especially since I've already summoned a monster, you know?''

''Why are you telling me all this?'' Sean asked in the silence of the room, concerned about Ashley's following play. ''Now I know there's no way out for you. You have two monsters whose effects are pretty much useless now, and the only card in your hand is useless as well if I destroy one of your monsters before your next turn. You've hit a dead end if I play correctly, which I can because of what you just said… Why telling me this?''

Ashley smiled beautifully, and sound started to come back to the room slowly as she spoke. ''Sean, I just want to show you that there's always another chance. That when you've hit a dead end, there's always something you can do about it.''

''What are you talking about, Ashley?''

The silence made by the summon of the Reborn Tengu was destroyed as Ashley said in a louder tone: ''I overlay my two Reborn Tengus together to construct a rank 4 overlay network!'' As she said this, some people in the audience started looking at their field with astonishment and started whispering and calling other people to watch what was happening now: The two tengus turned into two rays of green light which started to spin around each other as a giant dark hole was formed on the floor below them. Sean watched stunned as the two rays went down into the dark hole, opening a gateway into a parallel universe. ''Xyz summon!'' Ashley stated strongly. ''Show yourself, Number 10: White Knight Illuminator!'' **Yes, I know White Knight Illuminator needs 3 monsters, but I really can't change this now xD. Plus, if it needed 2 monsters it wouldn't even be close to broken, so wathever.**

Sean couldn't believe what he was seeing. From the dark hole had now appeared an oval-like shape made of bones with two white horns on top of it. He noticed how the creature was surrounded by two balls of light, which he figured were the souls of the two Reborn Tengus.

The virtual card check Sean could do of Ashley's field from his duel disk told him there was a black-bordered card in it. He opened his eyes widely as he saw the weird creature that had come from the dark hole transform into the monster from that card's picture: A skull horseman wearing a shiny white armor with a big blue jewel on its chest and the number 10 on its right shoulder plate. It was holding a white sword with a golden one-sided protection around the grip on his right hand while riding a horse with blue armor on its torso, and silver one on its legs, neck and face. Sean also noticed how the horse had two golden horns sticking out of the back of its head. (2400/2400/-4/Warrior/Knight)

''Now, Sean,'' she started to explain as the whispers were heard even louder than before in the audience, ''this is a very special monster, summoned from a parallel dimension by stacking the two monsters used to summon it underneath the monster.''

Sean tried to speak, but the sounds that came out of his mouth were impossible to understand. He looked at Ashley stunned, wondering what the heck was happening there as she continued with her turn. ''Now, I activate my White Knight's effect. By detaching one of the Xyz materials in it, I can send one card from my hand to the graveyard to draw a new card!''

As Ashley pitched her now useless Simorgh to draw a new card, Sean noticed how Yugi was approaching the duel they were having. The whole audience had stopped playing attention to the other duels, and their eyes were all looking at either Yugi or the Xyz monster. Even the judge was too stunned to yell at Yugi for approaching someone in the middle of a duel.

''Sean, you must be careful here,'' Yugi warned softly so no one but Sean could hear him. ''My grandfather states there is more to this duel than qualifying for a tournament. Her cards are up to something.''

Sean was confused. ''What do you mean 'her cards'? Are they… Evil?''

Yugi shook his head. ''Not exactly, but they… do not exist, at least yet. Pegasus said that they were working on releasing a new card, named Reborn Tengu, and he also mentioned that he had discovered a new kind of monster that lived in a universe parallel to the Duel Monsters World.''

Sean started to understand. ''So that's why I hadn't even heard of those cards. But then… how does she have them?''

''I don't know,'' Yugi admitted, ''but I can feel something. Those monsters… they're alive. And they are carrying out some weird strategy.''

Sean didn't get why Yugi was worrying so much, although all this smelt fishy. ''But Yugi… What could be the worst thing that can happen? If their strategy goes well, then they'll simply defeat me, right? I mean, it would suck to lose the duel, but…''

''I really have no idea, Sean, but please be careful.'' Yugi stated as he went back to the audience, with a hundred eyes following his steps.

''Hey!'' Ashley exclaimed. ''It's not fair to get help from the King of Games, you know?''

''Uh… yeah, I guess.'' Sean decided to keep quiet about all this and ask Ashley later about her cards.

''Alright, then. You know, I gotta admit, this is pretty weird. I don't remember learning how to Xyz summon. In fact, I don't even remember…'' Sean started to listen closely, ready to catch any useful information without having to push her about it, ''Nah, it doesn't matter. White Knight Illuminator, attack Sean's face-down monster!''

When the knight approached Sean's creature, the horse got up its back hooves while the hidden monster was revealed. It was a big, green turtle with a silver UFO instead of a shell: UFO turtle.

Ashley smiled as she saw one of Sean's monster with which she was familiar. ''There are some things that just don't change, huh?'' She asked rhetorically.

Sean returned her a smile. ''I guess not.'' The more he thought about it, the weirder it seemed for Ahsley to be using some kind of weird strategy with futuristic monsters. Who cares if she was using cards that hadn't been released yet? She was Sean's friend, and this was their duel. No one else's. ''With UFO turtle's effect I special summon Lonefire Blossom from my deck!'' He stated. (500/1400/3/Plant/FIRE)

Ashley nodded as she saw a plant with twisted stem be summoned from the turtle's UFO. As the name of the card stated, the card was blossoming, and it looked just like a bomb about to explode.

''I end my turn.'' She said as Sean drew a new card.

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''Alright,'' Sean started, ''I activate my Lonefire Blossom's effect! By sacrificing it I can special summon any plant-type monster from my deck, like my Gigaplant!'' When Sean ordered this, the fire finished blossoming with an explosion, from which appeared a huge tree with a six mantis-like arms coming right out of its trunk. The leaves went underground, and right below the top of the tree was a huge head, shaped like a red carnivore plant with three pairs of teeth rows and three pairs of eyes. (2400/1200/6/Plant/EARTH)

''And now, Ashley'' Sean continued. ''I guess there's no need to tell you this bad boy is a Gemini monster. Meaning that I can bring out its hidden effect with my face-down card, Unleash Your Power!'' Right when the card was activated, yellow rays started to surround Gigaplant, to the point where it gained its effect. ''This lets me bring out my Gemini monsters' effects, but they'll be flipped face-down on the end phase. And I now activate Gigaplant's effect, which lets me revive a plant type or insect type monster once per turn! This way I can revive Blazewing Butterfly from my graveyard in attack mode!''

A butterfly with wings made of fire appeared from the depths of the leaves on Gigaplant.

''Now I activate the last of my cards: the powerful equip spell card Supervise, which I equip to Blazewing butterfly!'' Suddenly, flames exploded and surrounded the butterfly's body. ''As you can guess, this card releases' my butterfly's hidden effect, which lets me tribute it to special summon one Gemini monster from my graveyard, who will gain it's hidden effect automatically! And I'll choose one of the monsters I sent with Card Trooper's effect: Be revived, the pride of the Gemini tribe, Phoenix Gearfried!''

After all this time, Sean finally saw the products of his hard training in a single card. The famous Gearfried Knight had now covered its effects with a white and red armor with golden lines around the armor that delimited different parts of its body. The upper part of the armor was mostly white, while the lower part was mostly red; the helmet was white on the back and red on the front, where it covered its whole face, except for its eyes. The dark cape he was wearing ended in gold feathers, and on top of it, right next to its shoulders, were two wings made of fire, which symbolized the fact that it had gained its effect. To top it off, the Knight was holding a white shield and even bigger huge sword (2800/2200/8/Warrior/FIRE)

''And now,'' he continued, ''the second effect of supervise will activate. While it's being equipped to a monster and it is sent to the graveyard, I can special summon a normal monster from my graveyard and special summon it! So be revived, Evocator Chevalier!''

Ashley watched with apprehension as an effectless warrior wearing a red armor was summoned; it looked like Phoenix Gearfriend, although the armor was much smaller and white in the parts that delimited it. He also had an emerald on the middle of its helmet's front part and a sword in his right hand. (1900/900/4/Warrior/FIRE)

Sean let out a huge smile. ''It's time for some battle! Phoenix Gearfried, destroy White Illuminator Knight with Burning Gemini Strike!'' Gearfried raised its sword, which burst into flames and came down on the opposing knight, who tried to block this attack unsuccessfully. Gearfried's sword ended up slashing the White Illuminator Knight into nothing.

''Now I attack directly with Gigaplant and Evocator Chevalier!'' Sean said to finish the battle phase. Both monsters stroke Ashley hardly, and she fell to the floor, gasping. Sean looked at her, worried, but he thought Ashley probably didn't want him helping her at this moment. They were in a duel, after all. ''I now end my turn which means my Gigaplant will be turned face-down.'' He concluded as the huge plant disappeared in order to leave a set card in its place.

''Nice show there, Sean.'' Sean turned around to see that John was right behind him. The smile in his face told Sean that he had already won his duel. ''I like how you act exactly as well as I expected.

''What do you mean?'' He asked.

John smiled. ''You cornered Ashley. Now she only has one chance to overcome this situation… and her deck knows it.''

Sean didn't like how John's speech sounded. It reminded him of..

''I… draw.'' Ashley said as she got up slowly, gasping for air.

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''I activate the spell pot of avarice.'' She stated. ''By returning 3 reborn tengus, Might Valley Falcon and Number 10: White Knight Illuminator to my deck, I get to draw two cards.''

Sean knew that this might be his only chance to do something about the following play, so he interrupted. ''I activate Phoenix Gearfried's effect! When my opponent activates a spell card I can special summon a Gemini monster from my graveyard, like Future Samurai!''

When Ashley drew her second card, her eyes were opened widely with surprise. She looked at the card she had just drawn stunned, like she had never expected to see it. Sean could see John smiling from the corner of his eye, which didn't really help the mood.

''I…'' Ashley seemed hesitant about her following play. ''I activate the spell card, double summon. This means I can summon twice this turn…''

Sean knew he didn't have any more monsters in his graveyard to special summon, so he decided to let her continue. ''So, to follow up… I'll summon summon Mist Valley Soldier, in attack mode.'' An Indian looking man with a blue scarf on its face and part of its torso was summoned onto the field. He was flying in the sky, being held by two blue wings, and held two knifes, one in each hand. (1700/300/4/Winged-Beast/WIND)

''A tuner monster!'' Sean knew what was coming. ''That means you're going to synchro summon!''

Ashley shook her head. ''I wish I was, Sean. But things…'' A tear fell down her face. ''They're not that easy. This is just… to save you.''

Before Sean could ask her what she meant by that, she said gloomily: ''I tribute Mist Valley Soldie in order to summon…'' she put the card slowly on the duel disk as tears ran down her face. ''Raiza, the Storm Monarch.''

Sean couldn't believe what he was seeing. Solomon and Yugi quickly got up, but it was too late. A green monster had already appeared in the middle of a tornado. It wore a light green armor and a cape of a darker tone. Its helmet, having a really pointy front part and feathers coming out of the back made it look like a bird. Sean shook his head, wondering how this could be possible… how could Ashley be a forbidden duelist, without him noticing it… (2400/1000/6/Winged-Beast/WIND)

As tear ran down Ahsley's face, she kept on going. ''When Raiza is summoned… it's effect is activated! I can choose one of your cards and place it on top of your deck! So I choose…''

Ashley couldn't continue. The tornado made by Raiza was getting more powerful by each passing moment, and she suddenly dropped on the floor, unconscious. Sean tried to go and help her, but he saw that his feet were now frozen. He looked around, and saw that Yugi and Solomon were having the same problem. Then, he noticed that John was gone. Instead, he saw a big figure at the entrance of the dome, a figure whose shape Sean would never forget: It was Mobius, the Frost Monarch.

Slowly, Sean started to realize what was happening. The Storm one could control time, and he Frost one could control place… They were trapped. Their destinies were now being sped up, to the time and place where the monarchs, or better said, the Forbidden Duelists controlling then, wanted them be. Sean watched the tornado surrounded him completely as the ice around him started to make mirages of all places in the world. He didn't know where or when he was going… but he knew this was just the start of something very, very important.

End of Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Forbidden Duelists - first part of Yu-Gi-Oh!: Struggle of the Duel Monsters. Look out for the sequel!


End file.
